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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27544714">Effodiant Corvi De Prophetiae</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiddi/pseuds/Kiddi'>Kiddi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas Fluff, Dark Academia, Dark Magic, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Ghosts, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Magic, Multi, Mutual Pining, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Prophecy, Rating May Change, Sexual Tension, Smut, declan lynch is the bad guy here but I juts needed him for the sake of characterization, friends with bebnefits to lovers, it should be, thats not a tag?, the suicide is not like graphic but it does come up more than once since it ties into some magic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:21:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,994</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27544714</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiddi/pseuds/Kiddi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Four Boys, One girl<br/>Four Ravens, One Lily</p><p>Blue Sargent was the only girl at an all boys school she didn't want to attend. She tried to stay clear of the boys in the school and tried not to interact with them as much as possible, going as far as to change her schedule around the classes to avoid them.<br/>Al this had worked for long enough but it was bound to fall through eventually.<br/>On her way to study for an assignment she meets Adam Parrish, a pretty looking boy who didn't exactly fit the raven boy mold of the others.<br/>Blue made a friend.<br/>She then meets the others, Gansey, Ronan, and Noah.<br/>They're nice enough and she finds herself enamored by their bond and desire to let her join their group, but something else is going on in the school and all of them are both the cause and the solution.</p><p>This is going to be a fun year for Blue Sargent.</p><p> </p><p>translation: the ravens of prophecy<br/>Updates every two weeks</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adam Parrish/Blue Sargent, Jiang/Joseph Kavinsky/Prokopenko/Skov/Swan/Ronan Lynch, Joseph Kavinsky/Prokopenko, Joseph Kavinsky/Ronan Lynch, Joseph Kavinsky/Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish, Noah Czerny/Blue Sargent, Noah Czerny/Richard Gansey III, Noah Czerny/Richard Gansey III/Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish/Blue Sargent, Richard Gansey III/Adam Parrish, Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Richard Gansey III/Ronan Lynch, Ronan Lynch &amp; Blue Sargent</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Blooming Lily</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Aglionby Academy, a place where boys become men. Blue Sargent thinks that's stupid. She has seen the boys that attend the school and even the ones in their last year don't act like men.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue Sargent has never been a fan of the infamous Aglionby Academy, it was filled with boys whose families didn't want them and sent them away so they wouldn't have to deal with them for a few years, some were expected to pass their classes and graduate others were there to keep them contained in one spot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue’s mother, Maura, was a new teacher at the school but that meant that she needed to live at the school like the other teachers and not having any other family to take care of her, Blue was granted the highest honour of being allowed to live at the school with her mother and be tutored by the teachers there, oh what a </span>
  <em>
    <span>great </span>
  </em>
  <span>esteem it was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If Blue had any sort of choice in the matter she would have stayed back at her old school, with her old friends who already liked her, not with a bunch of boys who looked at her like an outsider if they saw her wandering the halls of the school even so she didn't really want or need any new friends there, she had friends she got on with just fine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The school as an institution was fine, it had good teachers, a wide variety of course options for students, one of the most expansive libraries in the area and was one of the biggest campuses around; even so she tended to stick to wandering the halls when classes were in sessions to minimize her exposure to the rowdy boys at the school.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Long after the boys of the school had either retired to their rooms or wandered off to the common areas that dotted the outer wings Blue was walking into the library with the plan of finding a book for an English assignment. The library itself was empty as it always was in the evenings but Blue someone hunched over one of the desks, resting his head on his hand and not moving, maybe they're sleeping. Blue walked over and gently placed a hand on his shoulder, effectively startling both of them</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good God!” He exclaimed and held his chest, whipping back to face her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue stared at him still startled and shook her head softly before relaxing a little bit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you had fallen asleep, wanted to wake you up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, I must have dozed off.” The boy nodded and checked his watch, eyebrows furrowing at the time briefly before turning back to his work. “My Name’s Adam, Adam Parish.” He said softly and looked up at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue nodded and set her things down across from him on the table and watched him for any signs that he minded her there. “Blue Sargent.” She replied easily and flipped open her notebook</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That's a rather interesting name, are you Maura’s daughter?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The one and only.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam only nodded and went back to doing his work. Blue tilted her head a little at him but was happy that he didn't launch into the usual questions the other boys always asked when they spoke with her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They worked in a comfortable silence for a while until Blue was going cross eyed at her English notes and looked up, her eyes immediately settled on Adam and she took time to just watch him. Adam wasn't like the other boys in the school, but he was all at the same time; maybe it was the set to his shoulders, or the way that his hair glinted a little golden in the light, she wasn't sure what it was about him but he didn't seem like a raven boy, not like the others at least.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you working on?” She asked and sat back in her seat, deciding better to take a break from her work for the time being.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Philosophy, it's kicking my ass.” He laughed and shook his head, pushing the book away from  him, making a faux offended face at it. Blue chuckled and nodded, leaning over to snatch up the book from him and read aloud.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>The Other is the experience of another free subject who inhabits the same world as a person does. In its most basic form, it is this experience of the Other that constitutes intersubjectivity and objectivity. To clarify, when one experiences someone else, and this Other person experiences the world...</span>
  </em>
  <span>Oh my god you're right this is terrible.” She laughed and pushed the book away like it burned her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam laughed and nodded, taking the book back and placing a bookmark in it before shutting it with a sigh. “What about you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh? Oh I’m just working on an english assignment, it's not super difficult I suppose but it's just really dense.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam nods and packs up his work and Blue found herself a little disappointed that they didn't get to talk more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I have to get going but I, uh, really liked this…” He trailed off and bit his lip. “Wanna meet up again tomorrow? Same time? Promise I’ll be awake if that helps at all.” He laughed and Blue could see the red creeping onto his cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue smiled and nodded, packing up her papers as well. “I’d love that, I’ll see you then, Adam.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam nodded and motioned for her to go ahead of him, they made it to the door together before having to split ways, Adam heading off in the direction of the west wing downs and Blue going to the east wing dorms.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adam and Blue ended up meeting more than once in the library to do their work but the work apert ended up getting forgotten about half way through their time there. They always started off strong but they both just ended up getting distracted with each other, Blue found his energy to be almost like a pull. In the week they had been meeting up she had learned a lot about Adam Parrish, he didn't know what he wanted to go into as an adult, but he was considering getting a degree, he wanted to move away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam was definitely not a Raven Boy, not at heart at least, he was kind and he wasn't constantly making comments to her so she didn't mind meeting up with him every night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was at the end of a week and a half of meetings when he asked. “Say, Blue, do you wanna meet my friends?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue hummed softly and gave it thought, Adam was a good kid and he seemed like he had a decent ability to tell good people from bad so his friends, logically, must not be that bad. She nodded an agreement. “Sure, when do you want me to meet them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam beamed at her and nodded in a way that made her feel all liquid inside. She smiled back softly and they lapsed into their usual comfortable silence, though Blue could tell he was relieved that she had agreed to meet his friends</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>They had planned to meet in the library as always and Blue arrived a little later than usual, having been held up by her mother asking too many questions like </span>
  <em>
    <span>oh you gotta tell me their names, what are they like? I hope they’re nice to you, </span>
  </em>
  <span>which all had the same answers,</span>
  <em>
    <span> I don't know yet mom, I’m about to meet them</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Eventually she was shooed off and she hurried her way along the corridors until she came up on the library. When she got inside it wasn't as silent as it usually was when it was just her and Adam, now there were three other voices echoing in the quiet space.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue waked over as silently as she could to try and get a good look at the boys, there was Adam, same as he always was, next to Adam was a smudgy looking blonde boy, one that looked very presidential and at the head of the table a boy that looked like he was more raven than he was boy. The raven was the one who spotted Blue first and he narrowed his eyes at her and appraised her with a look that wasn't a look to see if she was attractive, he was appraising her the way someone would appraise a wild animal, cold and clinical, he was assessing if she was a threat; it was flattering in a way, to be seen as a possible threat by a boy who looked like he could murder you with one look. Blue stared back, doing her best to match his intensity.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The stare down lasted only a few seconds more before the presidential boy caught and followed his stare, which got the other two's attention as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, Blue, I didn't hear you come in.” Adam smiled at her and motioned for her to come sit with them. “This is Gansey,” he pointed to the presidential boy, “Noah,” the smudgy boy inclined his head and gave her a small smile, “and Ronan.” The raven boy gave her a smirk and nodded his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was only one Ronan in their year, Ronan Lynch, top of his class in Latin and a pain in her aunts (well not really aunt but she's the closest Blue has to one) ass. This boy, who looked like he had a sign above him screaming at you to KEEP AWAY was the best student in Lating class for their year? She believed it and didn't at the same time, the two ideas didn't match well but the longer she looked at the boy the more the idea seemed to fit him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue smiled at them politely and set her work on the table on the spot Adam had left her between him and Gansey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So this is the maggot you've been talking about?” Ronan asked with glance to Adam, eyebrow raised and a knowing smirk on his face that made Blue feel both irritated and warm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ronan.” Gansey snapped at him as he gave a light hearted glare at Ronan before he turned to Blue with a polite smile on his face, something about the smile didn't settle right in her, it felt both natural and too forced for her liking. “Excuse him, it seems he skipped learning his manners when he was young.” That earned him a punch in the arm, though he didn't seem to be bothered by it. “It’s nice to meet you, Blue.” Gansey extended a hand to her, an action that was much too cordial but she took his hand and gave a firm shake to it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This isn't a parliament meeting, Gansey, so cut the act.” Ronan said as he got his books out, earning a little snicker from Noah and two near identical glares from Adam and Gansey.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their conversation faded out and they all set up to do their work, well as Blue, Adam and Gansey did their work, Noah and Ronan worked for about twenty minutes before they got distracted with each other and were now whispering and snickering about something that had Noah red in the face trying not to laugh too loud and Ronan smirking. Blue squinted at them a little bit but averted her gaze when Noah turned to her, face still pink from whatever it was Ronan said and smiled softly at Blue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You're Mauras daughter right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded and set her book down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cool, so does that mean you want to like...also be a teacher? S’that why you're here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue noticed the boys on her left and right still at the question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, that's my mother, no, I don't want to be a teacher, I’m here because I have to, trust me I would have rather not come here if I had the choice.” She sneered at the table and shook her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan let out a noise that could have been a scoff or a laugh but when Blue looked up at him he didn't seem to be judging her he only nodded. “Can't say I disagree with you on that one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That could go one of two ways, either he didn't want to be at the school or that he didn't want </span>
  <em>
    <span>her </span>
  </em>
  <span>to be at the school, Blue knew that was intentional. Blue gave him a rather unimpressed look and turned back to her work.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After that weird fist meeting Blue was sure that they wouldn't be meeting up again. It wasn't much that she didn't like them very much, they could be lovely boys, but it was more that they just didn't know what to say about or to her. Gansey had more than once made an offhand comment to Blue and it took an average of two seconds for him to realize that it was inappropriate and for him to go into full length apologies, Blue appreciated the apologies and she had stopped being as annoyed by the comments after the fifth time around, he did genuinely seem remorseful. Noah was fine, they took to each other rather quickly and by the end of a month of knowing them Noah had the all clear to pet down the ends of her hair that stubbornly refused to be pinned down at all. Adam, she knew was good, and the more all of them hung out the more relaxed he became when he saw Blue having fun with his friends. Ronan was a whole different monster, for all that the group hung out and warmed up to Blue Ronan took a lot longer to do that, he was antagonistic, rude and only occasionally did agree with Blue, for most of the month they had been friends but recently she had noticed that he was giving her more ground, joking around more, so she considered that a win, though she saw how Ronan interacted with the boys so this was likely as much as she would get from him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Through all this, Maura had been a very proud mother, praising her for making new friends and overall acting very unlike a mother would; a normal mother (going off how her friends mothers always acted at least) didn't like it when girls got boy friends, they didn't trust either the daughter or the friends to keep their hands to themselves but, Maura had never been a normal parent anyways.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue was supposed to meet the boys again tonight, they had been rather cryptic about it...well, Gansey and Noah had been cryptic, Ronan and Adam looked disinterested in the crypticness of it all, but they apparently had something they wanted to share with her tonight so long after everyone had retired to their rooms she was walking to the library once again, though this time she was a little more nervous than usual.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Upon her arrival all eyes turned to her, Adam and Gansey offered her friendly smiles, Noah waved a hello, and  Ronan merely nodded his head. They had made room for her between Noah and Gansey and as soon as she had sat down Noah assumed his usual role of petting and playing with the spikes on her unruly hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey shifted and looked at Blue, eyes lingering a little on Noah’s hand in her hair before he started talking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, yes, the thing I have to tell you is a bit...odd, I guess.” He trailed off a little bit, biting his lip, but his eyes were alive and excited. “Ever since I was young, I’ve always had this calling to finding things you could say, and a while ago, when I was in the Philippines a local was telling me about a member of their village that had weird powers, they said that she could bring water up from underground, so I started looking into it and I think I found something promising here.”  He finished and looked up at her with bright hopeful eyes, he looked so young right there, she hadn't noticed it before but he never quite looked like the age he was supposed to be, he was both old and young but right now, he was young.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a heavy silence at the table and it was heavy as they all waited for Blue’s reaction. She flicked her eyes around the table quickly and caught Ronan’s eyes, he had the same glare from their first meeting, he was assessing her, weighing out his reaction to her possible answers to this, he was getting ready to be the bad guy if he needed to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think it sounds really cool, can I help?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She saw Ronan relax from her periphery and then Gansey light up and started talking to catch her up on what she needed to know. She half listened to him as he went on about his travels but she did listen to all the leads that he reached to get an answer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This was going to be a fun year.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A Dreamers Hands</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ronan Lynch an avid dreamer - most people were -  but his dreams weren't normal dreams, they were too vivid to be normal. His dreams were different every night, but they had some things that were always the same: the places he went were always new but felt familiar, there were almost never any other people in them, and in some way or another, there was Latin. Be it written on a sign or simply spoken by someone, it was always consistently present. Recently though, he had been having more vivid dreams of places he knows aren't even in the country and they will leave him shooting up in bed and scrambling for a notebook to draw what he's seen. The drawing is new; he's never woken up with the urge to draw before, but now, he has filled four pages of a blank notebook with black and white drawings of the places he’d visited. The other peculiar thing was that normally he was shit at drawing, but these pictures were good - like really good - it always felt as if someone else had been guiding his hands.</p><p> </p><p>Tonight had been another one of these dreams; he was standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean and at the edge of the shore was a small settlement, the houses small and close together. And even though fires burned in the back of the houses and smoke rose from the chimneys, he didn't see anyone in the village emerge from their homes. It was windy, being so high up meant the wind blew relentlessly, harsh and cold past his ears, and he heard it whisper to him as it did <em> somniator, audi me </em> <em> , </em> it whispered <em> . </em></p><p>That was as much as Ronan heard because he sat bolt upright in his bed and grabbed his notebook, spending five minutes drawing out the scene he had seen. When he felt the control slip back into his hands, he flopped back onto his bed and sighed heavily, throwing the notebook across the room in frustration. Why this? Why now? Why him? The dreams weren't anything new - he'd been having them his whole life - but why this development <em> now </em> of all times, when he was far away from his home, the place where his dreams always used to be the strongest.</p><p>It was still early, the sun just barely rising above the horizon, but Ronan knew that he wasn't going to be getting any more sleep. With a huff and a grunt, he heaved himself out of bed and sauntered to the bathroom to shower, before heading off to see if Gansey was awake.</p><p>And indeed he was; Gansey didn't sleep for very long when he was stressed and ever since school had started, Ronan knew he couldn’t be resting very much. Ronan had knocked on the door a few times and when he had gotten the all clear, he walked right in and sat down on Gansey’s bed, watching as the boy flitted around the room getting all his things in order.</p><p>“Good morning, Ronan.”</p><p>Ronan gave him a small hum and leaned back against the wall, content to watch Gansey go about his morning business.</p><p>“Talkative as ever I see.” Gansey mused with a lighthearted chuckle as he fixed his uniform and then flopped down onto the bed, laying down next to Ronan.</p><p>“Couldn't sleep?” He asked.</p><p>Ronan shook his head and looked out the windows to the lightening morning.</p><p>“Bad dreams, nothing new.”</p><p>Gansey nodded and gave a soft sigh, staying in his position for a second longer before heaving himself out of bed once again.</p><p>He did a dramatic spin and turned to Ronan with his real smile, his Gansey smile, a smile that was soft around the edges and showed his teeth and went up to his eyes. Ronan gave him one of his sharp smiles in return.</p><p>“Come on now, I want to see if Noah and Adam are awake.”</p><p>Ronan nodded and hauled himself out of bed and stood in front of Gansey, staring down at him. For a moment they didn't move, and just gazed at each other, Ronan watching the golden morning sun dance through his brown hair, making it look like caramel. He watched the way the light painted the planes of his face and deepened the fading tan from the summer, rewatched as it defined his bone structure and very briefly made Gansey look like a bronze statue. (A crime really, it should be gold.)</p><p>“Come on.” Gansey mumbled, a little flush rising to his ears.</p><p>Ronan nodded and followed him out into the hallway, locking the door behind himself. No matter how much the school worked on an honour system, none of them trusted the other students - or even some staff - not to snoop.</p><p>“Right, I’ll get Adam and you get Noah?” Gansey suggested with a slight tilt to his head. Ronan nodded and walked the ways down to Noah’s room.</p><p>Noah’s dorm was far from Gansey’s, but it was close to the dining hall, so Noah could afford to wake up a little later than them since he didn't have to contend with the morning breakfast rush.</p><p>Ronan raised his fist to the door to knock, then hesitated. Ronan dropped his hand on the door knob and twisted; it wasn't locked. He then strolled into the room and glanced down at the barely conscious boy in the bed.</p><p>“Wake up.” He said in an overly sweet voice and threw open the curtains. He heard a groan from the bed and then shuffling. Ronan smirked and kicked the door shut, turning to the lump of blankets in the middle of the bed.</p><p>“No, you're not getting away that easy.” he said and ripped the blankets off Noah, who whined and sat up to chase them from where Ronan had thrown them to the foot of the bed.</p><p>“What if I was naked?” He asked with a sleep-thick voice.</p><p>“Then that's too bad for me.” He said with a smirk as he looked down at him.</p><p>Noah glared at him from the bed and Ronan just gave him a blatantly unimpressed look. They held their little staring contest for a few seconds before Ronan lost his patience and grabbed Noah’s sides, picking him up and setting him on the floor.</p><p>“Hey!” he shouted and grabbed at Ronan’s shirt tightly, in order to avoid falling onto the floor, effectively shoving them face to face. Noah was still glaring and Ronan wore an amused smile. Ronan stared down at him and studied his face. Unlike Gansey, whose features were accentuated and softened by the sun, Noah’s face was painted brightly by its rays. The sun hit his face and illuminated the pale skin, revealing a smattering of light freckles, and making his normally pale blue eyes glint like crystals.</p><p>Ronan’s grip loosened on Noah’s sides and he let his hands rest there, sliding a little bit behind his back while Noah’s hands released the grip on his shirt to  themselves on Ronan’s chest.</p><p>“That wasn't cool Ronan.” He muttered with a small pout, hands sliding up to grip at his shoulders. Ronan stared down at Noah and hummed softly, fingers digging a little into his back.</p><p>“Yea well, I’m not about to miss breakfast because you slept in.”</p><p>Noah huffed and rolled his eyes, pout deepening a little more, and Ronan gave him a small laugh in return, sharp smile softening. With another dramatic sigh Noah fell forward onto Ronan’s chest, whining a little bit. </p><p>“I’m tired, maybe I’ll just sleep on you.” He murmured and closed his eyes. Ronan stared at him for a few more seconds before moving his hand up his back, fingers skimming his neck and gently tugging his head back to look at him properly</p><p>“Get dressed, Gansey probably already has Adam halfway out the door.” He said and let his hands skim Noah’s sides and back before dropping them and falling back to sit on the bed. Noah shook his head and went to the bathroom, giving him a slight shove on the way as he muttered in annoyance.</p><p> </p><p>By the time Noah was finished getting ready, he was in a much better mood. Ronan had happily sat and provided commentary on his morning routine, which had earned him anything from glares to the occasional rude hand gesture, but all of them were accompanied with a smile, so Ronan didn't feel awful about it. They then met Gansey in Adam’s room and all headed off to breakfast.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>somniator, audi me = dreamer, listen to me</p><p>I hope you enjoyed that, I sure as hell did, anywho this is a little sneak peak to what will be in the later chapters.</p><p>Feel free to scream at me in the comments or scream at me <a href="https://big-heccin-concern.tumblr.com/">on tumblr</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Four Ravens And A Lily</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Blue!” Noah said, startling Gansey and making Ronan laugh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good morning, Blue.” Gansey said with a too bright smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning.” She smiled at them. Around them, the other students were beginning to swarm to get breakfast. The doors to the dining hall were still locked so some groups lingered near them and though they may have been trying to be stealthy, she noticed them staring and smirking and whispering. She shifted and eyed them a bit warily. The consequences of her being the only girl their age at the school was not lost on her and it never left, especially in these types of crowds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Though she  was nodding along to whatever Gansey was going on about, she eyed a group of four or five boys who had their gazes trained on her. She hadn’t missed how they had been whispering and getting closer as subtly as possible. Blue turned back to Gansey and gave him a small smile in response to his chuckle that had indicated he’d finished talking and then watched him turn to Adam, immediately starting another animated conversation. Blue turned her head the other way to look out the windows on the other side of the room and smiled softly at the beautiful fall colours.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Blue.” Someone called out to her in a tone that made the hair on her arms stand on end. She turned to look at the person, knowing it was someone from the group she’d been watching when a broad chest and crossed arms blocked their line of  sight. She looked up at Ronan with wide eyes and he matched it with a raised eyebrow and a tilt to his head that asked </span>
  <em>
    <span>do you really want me to move? </span>
  </em>
  <span>From behind Ronan she heard an annoyed ‘hey! What the hell Lynch?’ and decided no, she didn't want Ronan to move. Blue threw him a grateful smile and a small nod.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah linked arms with her and smiled wide, tugging her inside. “Come on, sit with us today.” He begged and pulled Blue to a far off table, fairly secluded from the others. Though all the tables were separated the same distance away, her boys’ table felt more secluded compared to  the others.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Blue glanced behind her to see if one of the rowdy group had been brave enough to follow and try to get her attention, but she only found Ronan, his height making it near impossible for her to be seen by anyone else. Blue had never really felt her height was anything special, she knew she was short, bad roll of the genetic dice and some added space from other kids making fun of her for being so short made it so she had grown just the slightest bit resentful for her height, but with Ronan - the tallest of her boys - acting and looking like a wall, she felt an odd sense of safety and security.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They all took their places at the table and Ronan sat himself next to Blue,  Noah flanking her other side, and Blue knew that their actions were intentional. Ronan had no doubt either seen that Blue was uncomfortable and followed her gaze or he had sensed the stares from the other boys, before getting between them, caging her in to keep their eyes off her. Noah too had no doubt noticed and came to cheer her up, now sitting next to her to calm her down. Ronan was likely just glaring at the others, but she wasn't quite brave enough to look up at him. Blue smiled a little to herself and began buttering up a roll as she fell into comfortable chatter with the boys.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the end of breakfast Gansey had Blue caught up to speed on everything she needed to know about his search. He told her about the stories he'd heard on his travels: all the people he had met who all told the same story of members of the community that were able to do amazing things to help the others with their abilities (unfortunately, some weren't so lucky as to be revered and were killed.) He told her how he had made his way back because his father demanded he at least graduate high school and he hauled his search with him, still passionately dedicated to his cause. Noah whispered to her how he was still a bit hurt about it for the first year and had tried his best to convince his parents to take him out of school. Blue had chuckled a little at that which earned Noah a none too subtle kick from under the table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Through the quieter parts of breakfast she allowed herself to look out over at the boys sitting around her, all seeming to meld so easily together, clicking well together despite their differences. And sure, maybe she envied them a little.Blue felt welcomed by the group, but she knew that she did click like they did -  yet, maybe wouldn’t ever -  still, she did feel a pull to them, a desire to be one of them and to fit so seamlessly into their group that no one questioned how long she had been a part of it.  She wanted to fit into their weird little family, and wanted to understand them like they did each other.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>A week later, Gansey ran up to her in the hallways and grabbed at her arms with the widest grin she had ever seen on his face; it made him look so young and so vibrant that he was practically glowing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jane! I found something, come on.” He smiled and tugged her along on his search for the others.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who’s Jane?” She asked, a bit of annoyance lacing her tone. Gansey stopped and stared ahead for a half second before spinning around, looking alarmed and a bit bashful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, that…” he trailed off and bit his lip. “It's just a nickname, you know, like the author?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. “And why are you calling me Jane?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, because you two are similar I suppose, strong women in a man's world, thought it was appropriate.” Oh, that was oddly touching. Blue shook her head and sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don't go around renaming people. Now go on.” She said and motioned for him to lead again, following behind as he kept talking about what he'd found, though she wasn't listening much to him, knowing that she would get the explanation a second time once they located the boys.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They found Ronan soon enough and Gansey grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along, much to his displeasure. He protested and cursed, but eventually he relented and fell back with Blue, offering her a raised eyebrow which she shrugged at.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He said he found something.” She explained briefly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan nodded at her, then shook his head at Gansey. Not too long later, spotted Noah chatting with a boy she had never seen before and looking a little bit too happy about what they were talking about. Still, his attention was quickly diverted as soon as he spotted them heading towards him. Blue was the one who snatched him up, and Noah came with them with a lot less resistance than Ronan had, and a cute little laugh in tow as he  looped his arm through Blue’s. Adam was the hardest to track down, but they finally caught him leaving the library and while he had appeared rather confused when he spotted them all heading his way, he followed nonetheless. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soon, they   concluded their wanderings around the school and ended up in Gansey’s room. Blue sat herself down on the bed with Noah, Ronan on the floor between Noah’s legs and as he leaned back on the bed. Adam sat in the desk chair and Gansey stayed standing, but he now had a bigger book in his hands. He was practically vibrating.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well? What did you find Indiana?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey rolled his eyes and pulled out the book, moving forward and opening one of the folded down pages. He showed them a  drawing of a group of people in old clothing, skulking around corridors. Strangely enough, seemed startlingly familiar. Blue stood up and moved to  Gansey’s side, squinting down at the picture, when  suddenly her body was awash with cold. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There in the drawing, her face was right there in the crowd. She was next to a boy, gripping his shoulder tightly as he addressed three others.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her face must have done something odd because Adam was then pressing up at her side to peer at the book.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That's you.” He muttered. Blue nodded. That was her, her face at least, in a picture that the caption said was from the early Middle Ages, if not earlier.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan and Noah had come up as well and Ronan was pressed against Gansey’s back, squinting down at the book. Blue looked up at him and he appeared puzzled, giving the book a strange look as if it had suddenly changed into an animal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Latin.” He said simply and pried the book from Gansey’s fingers, bringing it up to his face to study it better. Blue could see the wheels in his head turning as he flipped through the pages.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well can you read it or not?” Adam finallyasked, his lips pursed tightly. Ronan flicked his gaze to Adam and rolled his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Couldn't tell ya.” He said and dropped the book into Gansey’s hands, feigning disinterest. While he may have </span>
  <em>
    <span>appeared</span>
  </em>
  <span> unbothered by it, Blue could see the way he looked at the book that it was ruffling him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And why exactly is that?” Adam demanded. “Thought you were top of the class.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan rolled his eyes again and pointed to the book. “It’s written in Classical Latin, we study Medieval Latin, or Church Latin, whichever the teacher wants. I can read it, but not all of it, that's why.” Ronan said, as if it was all too common knowledge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue glanced at the other boys and they didn't seem very impressed with him, but Blue actually was; Ronan had a reputation around the school for not caring much about his work, but she knew from Calla that he did exceptionally well in her class without even trying. Even so, it still caught her by surprise that he knew what they studied well enough to know the difference between the various forms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don't we take it to Calla then? She’ll probably know how to translate it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The others considered the idea and Gansey finally nodded in approval.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Great idea, Jane!” Gansey exclaimed grandly, “We’ll take an excerpt from it to her tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue was the one who ended up giving her the expert from the book. She had sat with the boys in the morning over breakfast and Gansey had given her a piece of paper almost as soon as they had sat down. He explained that it was a random passage from the book and since none of them would be seeing Calla any time until the afternoon, he asked if she could give it to her. Blue didn't mind much; she actually liked Calla and even if she could be a bit crass at times, Blue knew that she did care, deep down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue knocked on the door to her classroom and walked inside. Calla was sitting at her desk, rifling through papers, her pen scratching furiously over the sheets.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want?” She asked flatly, glancing up once at her, then back at her task.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue rolled her eyes and dropped the excerpt on her desk. “What's this say?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Calla glared up at her and grabbed the paper, unfolding it and squinting down at it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where did you get this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue shrugged. “Book, Gansey found it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Calla sighed and nodded. She stood up and folded the paper up again. “Come with me,” she ordered,  hurrying out of the classroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue scrambled to keep up with her as they left the classroom and made an effort to match Calla’s pace. “Where are we going?” She asked curiously. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Admin, I need to get your raven boys out of class, we need to have a talk.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My </span>
  <em>
    <span>what?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue was ignored for the rest of the way to the administration office and then ignored the rest of the time they were collecting the boys. They looked just as lost, but at least they knew not to make much of a fuss over it, merely glancing at each other with troubled expressions.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue was quite lost as to where exactly they were going, right until they reached a spiral staircase and she knew; they were going to see her mother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura Sargent was not a conventional mother by any means; she was eccentric, just plain weird, and she gave Blue far too much autonomy in others opinions (not Blue’s though, she liked the freedom she got very much) and she was perfectly fine with her daughter traipsing around an all boys school. She even actively encouraged her to befriend not one, not two, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>four</span>
  </em>
  <span> boys. She was a strange mother, but Blue wouldn't change her if she could.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah Calla” Maura greeted from her desk in the corner of the room. “And hello to you others too.” She smiled at Blue and the boys once she saw them. “Have a seat.” She insisted and pointed to the various chairs in a small circle near the far corner of the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The teacher’s rooms were much larger than the student ones, since they needed more room to store their work, books and generally live, so Maura had a mini apartment in the school, much like the other staff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What brings you up here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Calla made a noise that sounded a lot like </span>
  <em>
    <span>don't be coy with me., You know exactly why we’re here</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Maura, to her credit, didn't back down from the snort and only extended her hand to Calla, who slapped the page down on it. Blue watched as her mother carefully unfolded the paper and then pursed her lips before sighing softly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don't you all get comfortable? I’ll fetch Persephone.” She said after a moment's pause. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue frowned at her mother, but at the pointed look Calla gave her, she didn't ask questions, no matter how much she died inside at it, and simply watched as she left.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue spun around to Calla and was cut off by the raising of a perfectly coloured plum finger nail. “Not one word from you. You wanted to try and be secretive, you get to see how it feels now. So </span>
  <em>
    <span>sit down.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue did not sit down, she stayed standing and glared at Calla who had no issue with returning her glare. Blue would have been more than happy to stand like that until Maura came back, but Gansey politely cleared his throat from behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, Blue it's okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue spun around, finger pointed and poised to scold him, very close to doing so, but then she noticed how Gansey looked genuinely uncomfortable. He was sitting stock still, hands clasped tightly in his lap and Blue pursed her lips before slowly dropping her hand. She huffed and stomped across the room, flopping dramatically into the armchair next to Gansey. Calla huffed a small laugh and disappeared into another room muttering about tea and Blue wanted to throw something.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maura came back after a bit with Persephone in tow, her long blonde hair flowing like a curtain after her, her ever-placating smile plastered on her face. She lit up when she saw Blue. “Blue! Lovely to see you, these must be your raven boys.” She said and tilted her head to the boys sitting around her. Blue squirmed a little in her seat and scoffed softly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura hummed and walked over to them, seating herself down cross legged on the floor in the center of their chair circle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So what you found,” she said, shuffling to face Gansey, “is a key to your destiny.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Calla laughed and shook her head. “What they found was a bullshit book with stories in it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now, you know that's just not true.” Persephone murmured. “After all, weren't you the one that saw the ravens and the lilly?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Calla narrowed her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I saw ravens and flowers, you said lilly and the number 5.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I was the one who put it together.” Maura added from the floor. She was still staring at Gansey, but doing so in a more curious way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What's going on?” Blue demanded and looked to Persephone for answers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Calla answered instead. “Bluntly? You five somehow managed to get yourselves neck deep in magical powers...well four of you did, one of you already had them.” Calla turned a raised eyebrow at Blue. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>All heads snapped to Blue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You had magic?” Gansey asked, sounding betrayed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes she does, no she didn't know.” Persephone chimed in from where she sat at Maura's desk. “Maura decided it was best that she not know until she needed to, but our sweet Blue is a… power source, a battery, or maybe an amplifier?” She offered before trailing off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a break, she continued. “She makes magic stronger, she takes energy and makes it clearer, think of it as putting on Glasses.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She makes our magic stronger.” Persephone said and Maura winced a little. “I’ve always been good with numbers, but picking them out of the jumble is messy at times.” She shook her head and sighed softly. “Blue makes it easier to see the right ones.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Calla jumped in. “Since this is a fucking confessional, I can touch things and see things about it, Blue lets me see further back, or sometimes more clearly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue stared at them in shock, actually speechless for once in her life. She turned to Maura and gave her pleading eyes, </span>
  <em>
    <span>please not you too. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Maura bit her lip and ducked her head a little bit. “I have always been able to channel time, the future usually, but only abstractly. Blue has always made it easier to look into the places I needed to see.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue was seething. How </span>
  <em>
    <span>dare</span>
  </em>
  <span> they not tell her about this, about them. What did they even think it would do? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why didn't you ever tell me? It would have been nice to know that magic is a thing in my life.” She said loudly, glaring at her mother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura huffed tersely and turned to Blue. “Because I figured it was better to keep you out of this. I didn't know how your powers would affect you or others, so I figured that if I didn't tell you, you would never be put in a position where someone else would need to use them without your permission.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue glared and stood up, storming past her mother and Calla, who looked on like she had known that this was going to happen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Blue wait!” Adam called out from behind her, but she stalked out the room without another word and slammed the door. She needed to think and process. Alone. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Plot progress! I know its taken a bit to kick things into gear but we're getting there I promise, just bear with me for a bit longer.<br/>As always let me know what you think in the comments or <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/big-heccin-concern">on my tumblr!</a> its a fun time, I make things sometimes.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Rarity</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gansey stared at the door where Blue was. Blue had magic, they had magic, magic was real, well he knew it was real  but this just proved to the others that it was real.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Persephone made a small humming noise from her seat on Maura’s desk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“One person in this room, seems to be keeping a secret.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Someone who knows the language of dreams.” Maura added and turned to Calla, who just pursed her lips and looked at the boys, she narrowed in on Ronan next to her and placed her hand on the nape of his neck before scowling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And he looks like a snake.” She said  looking down at Ronan, her plum coloured lips pulled into a smirk. Ronan didn't say anything and just glared.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gansey didn't get a good feeling about the prediction they were given, something about it felt off, like the same feeling one got before they jumped off a high place, that same dip in the stomach. Something was going to happen and Ronan was going to be a lynchpin in it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That night Ronan barged into Gansey rooms followed by Adam and Noah. He slammed down an old worn journal on the desk. He looked reluctant to even be in the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s something you need to know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gansey stared at him for a few more seconds before cautiously reaching for the journal, when he got no resistance Gansey opened it up to the first page. Scrawled across the page was a grassy landscape, in the distance was a huge house, surrounded by other smaller buildings, trees were dotted spontaneously over the landscape. Gansey recognized it as the place the Lynch boys called “the barns”.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The barns weren't anything special, it was their home back in Ireland and from what Gansey remembered of it it truly was a place out of time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gansye flipped the page and was met with a town he didn't recognize, he flipped the page again and  there was another unfamiliar landscape, and another after that. Gansey looked up at Ronan with furrowed brows. “Ronan what is this?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They're my dreams, all of them.” He said and flopped back on the bed. “The dreams have been a thing for a while, the drawing is new, it feels like I’m fucking possesed, I can't stop until it’s drawn.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Noah took the journal from Gansey and flicked through it, taking some time to examine some of the drawings, his face twisted into thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“When did you say it started?” He asked with a tone that Gansey knew all too well from his own puzzlings, he was on to something.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like a month or two or something.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hummed softly and nodded and turned to Adam. “And when did Blue start hanging out with us?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adam stared at him for a few seconds before his eyes widened. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They did say that she amplifies magic, and that we all did have magic, so it would make sense for her to make ours stronger.” Gansey muttered softly and paced the room. “And you said that the dreams were a thing for a while so maybe that's why you were the first one to express them more.” Gansey felt his head going faster than he could keep up with it but things were slowly starting to fall into place. Gansey stopped pacing and spun dramatically to face the others.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We need to tell Blue about this immediately.” He said urgently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Unless you forgot, she kinda stormed out in a huff.” Adam said from his spot next to Ronan on the bed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think she’s better left alone.” Noah added.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gansey pursed his lips and sighed softly before nodding. “You're right, we can tell her tomorrow over breakfast.” He said and grabbed the journal again, sitting down on his desk chair to flip through the places.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The next morning Gansey was the one knocking at Ronan’s door. He was ansty to tell Blue about what they had found but he also wanted to know if Ronan had dreamt anything else last night. It turned out that he had. With a lot of grumbling and some choice words, he pointed to the open journal on the nightstand. The picture was still drying in from the ink but it was stunning. Gansey examined the drawing, it was of gardens he recognized but could place, he knew it was going to bother him for the whole day if he didn't figure it out. Gansey waited for Ronan to finish getting ready by staring at the picture trying to recount where he had seen that before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The palace of Versailles!” He said triumphantly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jesus Mary and Joseph! What the fuck Gansey?” Ronan said spinning around to face Gansey, he looked annoyed but his eyes held no heat. Gansey smiled at him and shrugged. “Sorry I was just trying to figure out where this was, I knew I had visited it before.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ronan rolled his eyes and grabbed the journal from him, chucking it into his bag.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come on, I’m fuckin’ hungry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gansey smiled at him and followed him out, hands already a little jittery in excitement to share the news with Blue.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Breakfast was the usual affair for all of them, they sat at their table, Noah and Ronan were involved in their own conversations, occasionally breaking off the chat with the others and Gansey bounced around from person to person as he was needed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Blue had taken the news of the dreams surprisingly well considering her reaction to them yesterday so they all agreed to show it to Calla, well most of them agreed, Ronan just rolled his eyes and huffed but he didn't voice his disagreement or agreement, and they left it at that. Gansey wasn't sure why the others decided to not talk about it but he didn't want to risk Blue getting upset again, because in the end it was sort of his fault that she stormed out, he was the one who pressed to find out more. Gansey reached up and touched his ear gently, thinking over if there was a possibility of Blue still being mad at him, maybe she was just being polite around the others. A hand fell on Gansey’s thigh and he jumped a little bit, looking over to Ronan who was still talking with Adam across from them. Gansey was half glad that he didn't bring attention to his stillness. Gansey took a deep breath and reached down to place his hand on top of Ronan's. He let it rest on top of his hand and used his touch as a tether while he took stock of everything around him and tried to bring himself back to the table. After a minute or two he squeezed Ronan’s hand and let it sit there until Ronan squeezed his thigh a little and drew his hand away.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After breakfast Ronan kept him back a bit from the others as they exited the dining hall. “You good?” He asked simply. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gansey looked up at him and nodded with a small smile. “Yea, thank you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ronan looked at him for another moment before he nodded and squeezed his shoulder a little bit as he moved a little faster to catch up to the others. Gansey chose to trail behind for a bit longer to take a proper inventory of himself, pulling out every trick his parents had taught him as a child to not let the mask slip. Once he was sure that, yes  everything was in place, he caught up to the others.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gansey didn't really know what he expected when he agreed to have Calla and Ronan in a room together but he definitely should have expected for the insults to start flying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well look who it is!” She said with fake delight. “Have you come in to fix your atrocious sentence structure?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ronan scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Sentence structure doesn't matter, so you have to put up with it.” He grinned back, sharp and coy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You do that on purpose don't you?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ronan only shrugged and threw the journal onto her desk, sitting on one of the desks in the front row.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What the fuck do I do with this?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ronan opened his mouth to talk but Adam hastily cut him off. “We wanted to know if you could tell us anything about it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Calla pursed her lips and beckoned Blue over to her. “Put your hand on my shoulder.” She said and when Blue didn't comply she huffed. “If it's to deal with you five, then I need the extra boost, Blue.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Blue looked at her with narrowed eyes that had Gansey’s heart kick starting again at the possibility of a repeat of last night, but she rolled her eyes and gripped her shoulder anyways. Calla nodde to her and flipped open the journal to the first page and touched the ink drawing. She stayed silent for a few seconds before flipping over the page. This went on for a few drawings before she sighed and closed the book. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There's nothing I can tell you from it that you don't already know.” SHe said and handed the book back to Ronan. “I can tell you that your magic is old, I saw it in the first drawing, wherever that place was, it was teeming with it, your magic is old, someone had it and now you do.” She said turned directly to Ronan, voice still as usual, her eyes were minutely softer though, if Gansey looked hard enough he could just make out the soft edge of pity in them, like she had seen something she didn't want to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So that's it?” Ronan asked, voice edging a bit into annoyance but Gansey could tell by the way he gripped the desk that he was more uncomfortable than he was angry.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That's it, your brand of magic is old, dreamers in general aren't uncommon, but whatever you have is, most people, from what I’ve seen don't remember where they go, just have a weird feeling of deja vu when they visit, you not only remember but you also do this,” she motioned to the journal on his lap, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>isn't common.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Chapter 4!!!!!<br/>AHHH im catching up to what I'm waorking on rn, exams are hectic so sorry about that, but I think I have enough written to not force me to go on a short hiatus, lets juts hope.</p>
<p>Anyways, hope you enjoyed! feel free to scream at me on <a href="https://big-heccin-concern.tumblr.com/">my tumblr!</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Jealousy And Other Emotions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Aglionby being an all boys school packed with boys all aged fourteen to eighteen means that they're going to find creative ways to let off steam. It was pretty common knowledge that the school had a culture of casual hookups and if you were to be in a relationship, it was usually kept between you and your close friends, nothing official but everyone always knew who was and wasn't off limits because word always got around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue was the only exception to the “all boys” part of the school but she stayed very far away from the boys so she really didn't count towards it, statistical error, as his math teacher would say.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Noah loved the weekends at Aglionby because it means that he didn't have to go to class and he could let his body wake itself up late, well, late for him was around 9 am. He was an early riser by habit, his parents were avid outdoor people which means lots of hikes, horseback rides through their property and random day trips to do something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Ronan knocked at his door he was ready this time and opened it, flashing a bright smile. Noah, being at neck level with him already couldn't help but notice the telltale dark bruising on his neck peaking over the collar of his shirt slightly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah pulled Ronan into his room and gave him a wide knowing smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You've been with Kavinksy haven't you?" He asked with a slight tilt to his head. Ronan's eyes widened a little bit but he didn't say anything on the matter, Noah didn't need him to.  He stepped closer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I saw the way he was looking at you over dinner yesterday, practically fucking you over the table by the end of the night, and you," He tapped Ronan's chest gently, "weren't doing anything to stop him." He hummed softly and tilted his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan cleared his throat and looked away briefly before sighing and nodding. "Fine, yea, I was with him last night" He said and crossed his arms. "Why the hell do you care?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah chuckled and shrugged. "Oh, I don't, not really anyways, I just wanted to know what sort of thing you have with him, if you let him do this." He purred and reached up to move aside the collar of Ronan's shirt, running two fingers over the highest of the blooming bruises on his neck then pressing down on it, smile morphing into a smirk when he felt the slight shiver that went through Ronan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We don't have a </span>
  <em>
    <span>thing</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and I don't really think he wants to anyways."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, and do you want to have a </span>
  <em>
    <span>thing</span>
  </em>
  <span> with him?" Noah was being a little shit now, he knew that, but he took great pleasure in seeing Ronan squirm and he knew that Ronan must enjoy it too, he would have landed a punch to Noah's stomach or would have shoved him away otherwise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck no, he's already got his thing going on."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah hummed softly and took another step closer, the hand he had resting on Ronan's neck sliding to the back to grip at the back and hold him still.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh yea?" He asked, leaning even closer, their chests were touching now, "prove it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan watched him for a few seconds, just staring into Noah's eyes waiting for him to back off, to say he was joking, and Noah almost did, was about halfway to opening his mouth when Ronan leaned down and pressed their lips together in a rough kiss.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah immediately tightened his hold on Ronan's neck and slid the other hand up to his shoulder, squeezing and tugging him down a little more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah took a step back and kept going pushing Ronan down to sit on the bed. Noah straddled his lap and pulled away from their kiss with a sharp smile, gently rubbing his thumb over Ronan's cheekbone. Ronan leaned into the touch and closed his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"This is rather nostalgic isn't it?" He asked with a small smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan smiled and looked up at Noah, hands settling themselves nicely on his waist.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yea, been a while, wanna call it quits now Czerny?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah smiled and rolled his eyes, hands sliding down Ronan's face and to his jaw. He gripped it tight and slid it down to his neck, rubbing his thumb over the sides.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nah, I like seeing you like this, don't like knowing that someone else got to see you though." He mused more to himself than to Ronan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thought we agreed this wasn't a thing, a one off and  then we don't talk about it" he said and squeezed his waist, tugging Noah closer. "your words."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was right but Noah couldn’t fight down the possessive feeling that surged deep down in his gut, it just kept saying </span>
  <em>
    <span>mine, mine, mine</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Noah leaned down and whispered in Ronan's ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't fucking share."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah leaned down and latched onto the side of Ronan's neck, higher than any shirt could cover, and bit down, licking over the mark gently before he pressed a soft kiss to it. He moved on to a higher spot on his neck, just below the sharp curve of his jaw and started sucking a bruise there too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan slid his hands from around his waist to his back and tugged Noah as close as he could. Noah smiled a little into his neck and kept sucking dark marks over Ronan's neck, only edged on even more by the sweet sounds that Ronan was making as he slipped his hands under his shirt and dragged his nails down his back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck, Noah" he panted into his ear. "Not gonna be able to hide these at all."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah pulled off slightly and let his lips brush over the delicate, already bruising skin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Good."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan gripped at his hair and pulled Noah back and off his neck, pushing their lips together again, this kiss was still hungry but there was something else there on both sides. Noah's kiss said </span>
  <em>
    <span>mine</span>
  </em>
  <span> and Ronan's said </span>
  <em>
    <span>you're right</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah wasn't very sure how long exactly they had been at it  but the sound of the breakfast bell made them jump.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah pulled off Ronans collarbone and smiled at him, gently touching the new much more visible marks on his neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Come on, I can already hear Gansey worrying."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan rolled his eyes and stood up, sliding Noah off his lap. They both took a few seconds to try and fix themselves up, Noah was more successful than Ronan who couldn't do much to hide the already forming hickeys on his neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"As good as it's gonna get." Ronan muttered and led them out, Noah trailing behind and he couldn't help the blooming pride deep in his chest as he looked at  Ronan's neck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Breakfast was very fun for him, maybe not so much for Ronan, but he wore the marks like a badge. Noah sat across from Ronan this time and spent most of his time during breakfast half listening to Gansey go on about his newest theory, and occasionally chatting with Adam or Blue but he mainly spent it staring at Ronan and the deepening bruises on his neck. Noah was proud, he liked that Ronan was wearing his marks over the ones that Kavinsky had put on him, it was a public brand that only they knew.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah sipped on his coffee and slid his gaze over to Kavinky’s table and found him openly staring at Ronan, eyes a little wide when he saw the full extent of the work Noah had done on it when he turned his head to talk with Gansey who for the life of him could not look at Ronan in the eye, every time he did Noah saw him go a little red and stare, it was honestly adorable. Noah stared at Kavinsky and so deeply wanted him to look a little to the left. He did and they locked eyes, Noah winked at him and smirked. Kavinsky’s eyes flicked from Ronan to him a few times and Noah took way too much pleasure in the moment he saw the pieces click together in his head. Kavinsky looked at him again and his eyes went from wide to narrow in an instant. Noah smirked and winked at him before turning to Blue with his usual happy smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan turned to him again and Noah caught his eyes and smirked lazily and did a mock toast with his mug before he started eating again. Ronan rolled his eyes and went back to eating his food, hand occasionally reaching up to press at one of the bruises. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <span>Today was going to be a </span>
  <em>
    <span>good </span>
  </em>
  <span>day.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hahaha see didnt I tell you to hold on for just a few more chapters? <br/>This one is really short but thats legit becaue it was just roah content int he outline, sorry (not really)<br/>Anywho, exams suck, i hate them so much, please send me distractions in the comments or on <a href="https://big-heccin-concern.tumblr.com/">my tumblr!</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Tell Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gansey had used his weekend to lock himself in the library with a book. He’d been just on a lead the night before and he was excited to see where he could take it. The day before he had decided to follow an idea he had, his thought was that there had to be </span>
  <em>
    <span> something </span>
  </em>
  <span>about the school that had attracted three new teachers who all just so happened to have magic and that this was also the lace where their magic was blooming, everything was lined up too neat for him to not have noticed it and the school was the one thing that threaded all the events like a perfect thread. He had brought it up to the others that night over dinner and Adam seemed to agree with him over it, making a suggestion to look into the history of the school. So far his search had been yielding him absolutely nothing but things that were perfectly normal, like how they used to be farmland but was slowly expanded and industrialized, or how there was a settlement not far from the town where they did burnings of witches. All very cool things but none of them relevant to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gansey huffed a sigh and slammed his book shut. He pushed back in his chair and set his wireframes on the desk, rubbing at his eyes before letting out a long suffering sigh. He had been at this for three hours already trying to find something on the school but he’s just reached dead end after dead end. He pushed back from his desk and shoved all his books into his bag, he was angry and he hated it so much, feeling angry never felt right to him, he hated not being in control of himself at all times and anger was the one emotion he just couldn't get a handle on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey left the library hoping that a walk would help him with the thoughts running through his head but they really only served to make it worse for him and by the time he had looped around to head back to the dorms he was stewing in anger mixed in with frustration. Gansey took a deep breath and knocked on Adam’s door, hoping that maybe talking with him for a bit might help him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey opened the door and dropped his bag on the floor, walked over to the bed and fell into it dramatically with  sigh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened this time?” Adam asked casually from his desk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey threw his hands up and gave another groan. “I just can't find anything, I keep going around in circles and I just can't even find one thing right.” The frustration was edging into his voice again, and he could feel the anger in his hands the way it always started and then spread through his body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He heard the chair scrape on the floor and he turned his face to Adam, he looked tired, both physically and of the conversation, immediately Gansey’s stomach curled. They stared at each other for a few seconds and the longer Gansey looked the more Adam’s expression morphed into one that screamed </span>
  <em>
    <span>get out of my room, leave me alone, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and </span>
  <em>
    <span>go sulk somewhere else. </span>
  </em>
  <span> He hated it. Gansey hated the look, and he hated the feeling that spread from his gut to his hands and his throat, the anger started to spread too, from his hands to his arms, he felt them tensing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you have something to say to me then say it.” He said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam’s face changed, he saw his eyes flicker and his whole body tensed. Perhaps he was too harsh with his words, but they didn't sound harsh when they left his mouth, and he didn't think that it was a rude question to ask.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You forget whose room you're in, Gansey.” Adam’s words wove through him like venom. Gansey sat up and turned to face Adam, trying his best to school his face into hissual calm facade.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you're kicking me out then just say so.” Gansey’s emotions were screaming and tearing to be let out faster than he could cage them in. Adam scoffed and shook his head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If that's what you think I’m doing then be my guest and get out, I don't need you insulting me in my own room.” He said dismissively and sat back in his chair, going back to his work.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what is that supposed to mean?” He asked, voice raising just a slight bit. “Please, tell me how I’m insulting you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam laughed a little bit and shook his head, spinning back around to Gansey. “You came into </span>
  <em>
    <span>my </span>
  </em>
  <span>room and started complaining, you spend all your time on this search and act like you don't even care about school or that maybe others actually care about school more than this, so I’m sorry if I want to focus on my work rather than listen to you grovel.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey stopped cold, his mouth was parted with a retort but as soon as Adam’s words hit him all anger and emotions just drained from him. A cold feeling washed over him all at once, it started in his heart, then went to his lungs, then his throat and then it spread through his whole body. Adam was right, he was always right about this sort of thing. He was so invested in his search that he hadn't even considered that the others might really only be in it for him, that they might not care as much as he did, that maybe they were all like Adam and just wanted to focus on their own thing and now have to follow him around and listen to him talk about his weird magic thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey was vaguely aware that he had been silent for a bit too long but he couldn't bring himself to say anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gansey?” Adam asked, the anger and annoyance was still in his voice but it had softened a little bit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry.” he muttered softly and stood up. His hands were long numb from the cold washes he was getting as another wave of doubt and dread passed over him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gansey.” He said more firmly, his tone was much less angry now, Gansey could tell, but it still made his whole body flinch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry you're right, you're busy with school, this is all just a stupid project of mine I didn't mean to assume you were just as interested as I am, it was stupid of me.” He rambled as he grabbed his bag from the ground, he didn't grab it right and a few books spilled out. He bent over and shoved some of them into his bag before he started feeling his hands starting to go stiff and his breathing starting to catch the way it did when things were about to get worse for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll remember that next time, I didn't mean to bother you.” He said quickly and stood up. He left the room quickly, leaving some books behind but he could get them another time. Right now he needed to sit with someone who didn't mind his search, someone he hadn't dragged. Maura Sargent.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maura was waiting for him when he knocked on her door. This shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. When Gansey knocked on the door she was ready for him and opened the door with a soft smile and a plate of snacks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good morning, Gansey,” she smiled and stepped aside for him to enter, “I cut up some fruit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey dropped his bag and took the plate from her, he didn't really feel it in his hands but he trusted that he had it. Gansey sat down on the love seat, toed off his shoes and pulled his feet up under him. Gansey gazed at Maura as she moved across the room, well he was turned in her direction but he was looking </span>
  <em>
    <span>through </span>
  </em>
  <span>her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you mind if I do an energy reading on you?” She asked gently and sat down next to him. “It would help me see how to help.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey blinked at her and nodded softly, offering her one of his hands. He was shaking and drew his hand back when he noticed. Maura smiled and caught his hand. She was gentle with her hold and pressed her thumbs into the palm of his hands, smoothing them out, then moved them back to the center , and then moved them out in circles. It was strangely calming, and Gansey felt the feeling slowly fade back into his hands, his shoulders ease just the slightest bit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do this for Blue when she gets angry or frustrated.” She explained and released his hand once it had stopped shaking. Gansey looked up at her and gave a small smile. She returned it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eat your fruit, it’ll help you feel better.” She urged, and Gansey was struck by how different Maura was from his own mother. Maura hugged you, gave you fruits, sat with you and overall tried her best to make you feel better. Mrs. Gansey wasn't the most nurturing sort of mother, she did her best, but she never knew what to do; more than once Gansey was left feeling worse after being comforted by his mother because she didn't really know how to handle him when this sort of thing happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey glanced down at the plate and gingerly picked up a strawberry, popping it into his mouth and closing his eyes at the taste that exploded in his mouth when he bit down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He  hummed slightly and smiled a bit wider. “Are these from town?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura laughed a little bit and stood up from her spot next to him, please that he was more calm. “Let me go get Blue, I’ll need her to see what's going on in here.” She said and tapped his forehead.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maura and Blue returned not very long after Gansey had finished his plate. Blue looked worried. Her eyebrows were drawn in together, lips pressed a little bit, and when she looked at Gansey her eyes softened and saddened a little bit. She approached him carefully and smiled a bit as she sat down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey looked up at her and shrugged a little bit. “Adam and I had a fight.” He said softly and looked back at his plate. He lifted a hand to his ear and shook his head. “He was right though so it doesn't matter.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura cleared her throat a little bit and smiled softly at the two, holding out her hands.  “Let's begin shall we?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The reading was weird. Gansey half expected her to pull out Tarot cards and have him pull some, instead she had gently taken his and blues hands and instructed them both to close their eyes and to focus. She told them to focus on Gansey, on his energy. He wasn't very sure how to do that but he tried his best to do what she told them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>While they were doing the reading he started to feel odd. Slowly he started to feel something in his chest uncurl and then something almost like an animal trying to claw its way out of a room, it was something inside him scratching to be let out. Gansey took a deep breath and squeezed Blue’s hand a little bit tighter. At the end of the reading Gansey was left a little light headed and leaned back against the couch, eyes sliding shut.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he opened his eyes again, Maura was staring at him with a sly smile, it was strikingly similar to Noah’s smug looks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well you're a rather interesting boy.” She hummed and stood up, heading to the kitchen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey exchanged a look with Blue. “And that means?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It means that you, my dear, use a particularly interesting brand of magic.” She called from the kitchen, immediately followed by the clatter of plates. “Do you want some more fruit?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No thank you.” He said, already starting to get a bit frustrated with the vague answers. “What type of magic do I use?” He was trying to be polite, but his want for answers was starting to win over his need to be polite.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura came back into the room with a bowl of cut up fruit for herself and sat down in a chair opposite Blue and gansey. “An old kind, very fitting of who you are.” She smiled at him but her eyes glinted in a challenge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don't mean to be rude, but can you just </span>
  <b>tell me what it's called</b>
  <span>.” Even as he was speaking Gansey noticed that the words didn't sound right, they were too heavy, but they weren't angry, there was something else wrong with them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Persuasion magic.” She said immediately. Gansey watched her eye flutter a little bit then a huge grin broke onto her face. “That wasn't so hard was it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey’s eyes widened a bit. He raised his hand up and touched his bottom lip. It all made a weird amount of sense, Gansey has never really had much of an issue with talking to people, they always seemed so eager to listen to him go on and on about whatever topic they gave him or on the rare occasion, whatever search he was on at the time. Adam’s words echoed in his head again, </span>
  <em>
    <span>maybe others actually care about school more than this. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“There's something else in there too, something you're hiding.” Maura said studying him carefully. “I don't know if it's magic or something else, but you have something else hidden in you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something else, he had something else inside him that even Maura didn't know. He already had a few theories spinning in his head; it could be greed for he is always searching for things, or maybe it was selfishness. Gansey ran a hand through his hair and dropped his hand to his ear, gently toying with it as he stared off and tried to come up with an answer to what was hidden inside him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gansey?” Blue asked softly and touched his shoulder. He had to physically fight down the flinch. Gansey took a deep breath and turned to her with his Richard Gansey smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was I staring off?” Gansey could hear the waver in his own voice but it seems Blue didn't notice him even speak, she was looking at him shocked. Gansey looked to Maura who was nodding with a small smile on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well that answers that, you can also do illusion magic.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey felt like he was about to faint.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. I See Dead People</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Free period at Aglionby was always Noah’s favourite times, mainly because he got to relax after all his classes, but also because he got to hang out with all his friends. Fall free periods though, were the most amazing time for Noah, again, not only because he got to be outside, but because he got to watch all his friends be illuminated by the golden sun, letting the wind ruffle their hair and hearing the wind carry their laughs along the way. He loved fall free periods. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah sat under one of the many large oak trees that dotted the courtyard of the school, waiting for his friends to join him. He’d managed to get out of his classes early which he thought would be a good thing but it left him sitting out on the field on his own, boredom growing as the minutes stretched into what seemed like hours. He was staring off at the school, eyes skimming the top of the tall towers that dotted the campus, peaking over the buildings when he caught movement on the clock tower. He was too far and it was too tall for him to be able to make out what it was. It was probable a bird, since the tower was way too tall and the tower entrance itself was closed off, but something about it didn't feel right about it, the movement was too fluid. The clock struck the hour, loud and deep, and even that felt strange. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then the shape fell. Noah stared at it, a sick sense of dread settling in his throat, that wasn't a bird.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The body hit the cement with a sickening crunch and Noah let out a sob. He shot up from the grass and started running to the tower, he knew he wasn't going to make a difference but he had to at least try. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Strong arms wrapped around him and he was pulled back hard into someone's chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Calm the fuck down.” Ronan said in his ear and turned them around  to the field. “What happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah stared at him, eyes wide, hands gripping his forearm tightly. “What do you mean what happened?” He asked, a bit erratic. “Did you not see that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan turned his head to the courtyard and then shook his head. “No, there's nothing there, Noah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah moved him aside and looked back at where the body was. Ronan was right, there was nothing there. No body, no blood, not even a crack in the cement. “That's, no, I saw someone fall.” He said and turned back to Ronan, eyes wide and crazed. “Ronan you have to believe me.” He pleaded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah could see the way Ronan’s mind was turning over to try and explain this to himself. He shook his head and spun Noah back towards the tree he had been at, the others were already there, all looking at them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, let's go.” He said and pushed Noah forward gently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ronan,” he asked gently and rubbed at his arms, “am I going crazy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan looked down at him and pursed his lips for a second before shaking his head. “Nah, I don't think so.” he said and ruffled Noah’s hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiled softly and nodded, a little comforted by the words.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The others were very comforting. They didn't fully understand, didn't even pretend to, but they did talk him through possible theories. Ronan, unhelpful as ever, threw out the hallucination options, or that he was secretly drugged by the pollen, and so many other possibilities, each more absurd than the last. The others did not take too kindly to them seeing as Noah was pretty shaken up by it but, Noah though, knew he didn't mean it to be mean so he smiled and shook his head when he posed a theory.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Noah excused himself near the end of their free period. He was certainly feeling better but he wasn't fully settled. When he stood up Gansey shot him a look that said </span>
  <em>
    <span>are you okay</span>
  </em>
  <span> and Noah only smiled and nodded before he headed off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of the many theories that had been thrown out over their time together, both silly and serious, the one that stuck with him the most was one that Blue suggested.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Jane, any ideas?” Gansey asked, a laugh tinting the words.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She smiled and nodded, turning to Noah and assessing him for a moment before making a grand gesture with her hands. “The obvious answer is ghosts of course!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They had all laughed at the idea then but as the time went on it had taken root in Noah’s head,if magic was real, if they had magic, then wouldn't it be reasonable for ghosts to also exist? The question was bouncing around in his head as he made his way across the campus, his gut churning a little with the memory of the body when he passed the clock tower, heading to the mathematics building.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was always something just a little bit off about their new math professor, Persephone Poldma. She didn't exactly fit in, she was thin and tall, but she never took up too much room, she certainly wasn't an imposing presence like Calla, or a loud one like Maura. She was just present. She did not command the class harshly either, her voice was small and delicate, but all the students in the class either listened or stayed silent when she spoke. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whenever one of the students would ask her why she even liked math, she would always smile and shrug her shoulders, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I'm just good with numbers I guess, </span>
  </em>
  <span>she would say. Now they knew different, she was good with numbers but it was because she was psychic, or something similar to it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Noah peeked his head into her classroom and was a bit unsettled when she was staring back at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come in.” She said in her small voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He entered and made his way over, taking a seat at one of the desks in front of her desk. “I saw something that scared me today.” He admitted. She didn't respond so he kept going. “I saw a woman jump front he clock tower today,” his voice was hushed, “I saw her fall and heard it when she hit the ground,” he winced, remembering the impact and gripped tightly at the desk, “when I went to look, there was nothing there, not even a crack in the concrete.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Persephone nodded and smiled at him softly. “It seems you have a rather extraordinary ability.” Noah looked up at her and swallowed heavily, stomach still turning a little bit. She only smiled and placed her hand on his head, ruffling his hair a little bit. “Yes, I think you're rather extraordinary, you see the people who are in between the living and the dead, cursed to relive their final moments… well most of the time at least.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah gulped and looked outside to the courtyard, from here he couldn't tell who was and wast real. “Is this a Ronan type of thing or was this just a curse?” He asked and laid his head down on his hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not a curse but not a Ronan thing either, just...a thing.” she smiled and laughed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They spent the rest of the free period talking about what this new development meant for him and what he might be able to do. There wasn't much that she could tell him though, since, was with anything that wasn't the norm, people who say that they can see ghosts have been labeled as crazy and either shunned or locked up, all he was able to glean was that he could, potentially talk with the spirits — even then it wasn't certain — and that he couldn't turn it off. That last bit of information had been particularly disheartening; Noah didn't know how long he could stay sane if he kept seeing the deaths of other people, especially if he couldn't tell that they were ghosts, maybe he would just stop caring in a few years, so accustomed to death around him that it no longer phased him. That last thought was the scariest.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. How Dare You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm sorry to anyone who actually wasn't to keep up with this story, I got into a pretty bad depressive spiral and juts couldn't bring myself to write anything angsty but I am feeling leagues better and can continue this, I know the absence wasn't too long but I figured an explanation is fitting</p><p>Happy new year by the way!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Adam Parrish was a complicated boy. He was a mess of functional moving parts all held together by skin. He was also a boy from a complicated past. Adam knew he wasn't his parents son, he realized this pretty quickly after meeting Gansey for the first time; Gansey’s parents loved him to the point of doing anything for him, they would let their son do what he pleased because it made him happy, Adam’s parents did not let him do anything that they didn't approve of or wouldn't improve their social standing. Adam did not resent his parents, no matter how much he should, all he wanted to do was graduate from Aglionby and leave them to live their pretty painted lives on their own. Realistically this meant that he would be cut off from them all together, no money, no inheritance, and likely little to no social bonds since they would make sure to tear him down if he chose to leave them. He was strangely okay with that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The one thing that Adam wasn't okay with, was being normal. He knew very well that if he planned to put space between him and his parents then he was going to need to be the best of his year, which meant he couldn't just be normal. With the all too recent news that they could all have magic, they were all buzzing with anticipation as to what they would get; Noah could see ghosts, Ronan would go anywhere he wanted in his dreams, Gansey was able to persuade anyone with words, and Blue made all of them more powerful. Adam was just, regular old Adam, he was human. He was normal. He couldn't afford to be normal. Being normal in his group of friends meant that he would never reach their level, it meant that he would never be one of them. Adam loathed that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adam did not loathe his friends, didn't even dislike them, he held them to such a high standard, he saw them as a goal of what he could be if he just mastered what they did. He’d taken the class in being Richard Gansey, he’s studied the way the boy interacted with others, how easily he melded into any situation, how - no matter how overdressed or overly polite - he never stuck out, he was always part of that group, and no one questioned it. Adam could never figure out why though, and the gaping hole in his knowledge left him uneasy. Adam now knew it was because of his magic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Really the knowledge should have been comforting, he should have seen it as the reason why he never managed to be like Gansey. It only made it bother him more. As far as he was aware Gansey, by technicality, had his powers active the longest as he had admitted to all those times he’s gotten people to do something for him with just a smile and some words, that only made the pit in Adam’s stomach bigger. Gansey had powers longer than they had, longer than he had even known, and it wasn't fair that he got everything handed to him because of them while he and the others had to scramble to keep up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The thoughts of annoyance towards Gansey had been plaguing him all day, unhelped by the fact that they had a fair amount of classes together, but the previous incident - when Gansey found a name for his powers - was still very fresh in Adam’s mind. He had snapped at Gansey, a combination of stress, a mountain of homework, and the looming presence of winter break closing in. He hadn't been thinking of what snapping at Gansey would actually do to him, figured it would just rile him up and they would have a fight like always, he wasn't expecting to see everything that was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Gansey </span>
  </em>
  <span>drain out of him completely, it was a sudden and terrifying enough site that it shook Adam’s anger loose and allowed him to see what he had done.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d spent the rest of that evening locked away in his room with guilt gnawing at him everytime he looked at the small little mess of books Gansey left behind in his haste to leave. That guilt and that memory alone were what kept him from hating Gansey altogether.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adam and Gansey were chatting in one of the more secluded hallways of the school, well, Gansey was talking, Adam was half listening to him. They were going back and forth about the possibilities of magic and their connections to it when Adam had toned out, letting Gansey go on his point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Adam?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He only hummed and nodded. Gansey huffed and pressed his lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>“Adam are you listening to me?”</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam stilled and then nodded, turning to Gansey fully. “Yes, I am.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both froze, Adam blinked at him and when he felt the fog cleared from his head he felt everything zero in on Gansey, then everything went red and he felt the anger wash over him and tug him under so quickly he couldn't keep it in check.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck was that Gansey?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey, to his credit, looked genuinely remorseful, but Adam didn't care, he was just focused on the fact that </span>
  <em>
    <span>Gansey </span>
  </em>
  <span> used his powers on </span>
  <em>
    <span>him. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He took a step forward and closed in on him some more, a strange feeling of satisfaction welled up inside him when Gansey flattened himself against the wall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bullshit,” He spat, “I don't need you using your powers on me to make me listen to you.” He said through gritted teeth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Adam, please, not - “</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Don't like me making a fuss?” He said, raising his voice. There was little chance someone might hear then since it was a free period and a shortened day, but he didn't care.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Am I ruining your pretty image at this school?” He said and rolled his eyes, closing in on him again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It's not like you even wanted to be here anyways so it's not like it matters anyways!” He laughed and shook his head slightly. </span>
</p><p>
  <b>“Adam that’s enough.”</b>
</p><p>
  <span>He paused. There it was again, the fog over his brain that made him pause and a little voice in his head spoke to him again, </span>
  <em>
    <span>he's right, you should stop, maybe you've gone too far. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It was his voice that whispered it and he momentarily wanted to listen to it and step off but then he heard it in Gansey's voice, he heard the voice shift and it was no longer his own voice but Gansey’s. He came back to himself and glared at Gansey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Classy, Gansey.” He said and shoved past him needing to get outside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Being outside did actually help, the day was overcast and cool, so the walls of the school were cold to the touch when he leaned his head against it. Dam allowed himself to think over what happened. There was still an edge of anger in his thoughts but they were slowly being repainted with regret and shame. He didn't mean to explode at Gansey, but he’d been on edge for days and Gansey using his powers on him, accidentally or not, set him off and he was angry before he even noticed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam hated his anger, it brought back memories of his parents tugging him aside before functions and even during parties to scold him for doing something they deemed unacceptable. His father was the worst. He would always grab at his arm too roughly, pull him along so fast that Adam was tripping over his feet trying to keep up, and he would get up close and scream at Adam until he was nodding his head, holding back tears and shaking. He stopped enjoying family events after that, the only time he had any fun was when he saw the Gansey’s but even then he was guarded by his parents so they only managed brief conversation. Until Aglionby he never even considered Gansey or Ronan a friend since he had never been allowed to talk with them much more than forced, overly polite greetings and a few words over dinner.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A hand touched his shoulder and he jumped. “Adam?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He relaxed, it was only Blue. He turned to her and hummed softly; he knew why she was here, she had a stern look on her face, similar to the one his mother wore and the familiarity had his defenses rising again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gansey ran crying to you?” He asked dismissively.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She only rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Look, I get what he did was upsetting but don't you think you took it too far, </span>
  <em>
    <span>again?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He narrowed his eyes at her. “Don't defend him,” he said angrily, “he had absolutely no excuse for using his powers on me, I might not have magic but I am not someone he can just control into doing what he wants me to do.” He snapped, the anger was back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue’s face didn't even flinch, she just kept glaring at him with narrowed, fiery eyes. “Is that what this is about?” She said and stepped closer to him. “Is all this because you're hurt over not having magic like Gansey and Ronan? News flash Adam, I don't have magic either.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam laughed coldly and nodded, crossing his arms. “Exactly, why aren't you upset that he just uses his to get what he wants?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue threw her hands up and huffed. “Because I trust him, Adam, I trust him to tell me the truth when he does it by accident, and I for one don't care if I don't have magic.” She paused and took a deep breath, stepping closer to him and poking him in the chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should know that having magic doesn't fucking define you, we don't care.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When you're done acting like this, come find me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam watched her walk off and a familiar ugly feeling curled in his stomach; he hit the wall next to him and let out a frustrated sound.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He took another deep breath and shouldered his bag again, turning to walk into the school again when a gentle hand fell on his shoulder stopping him. For a moment he thought it was a teacher coming to question him on the argument but then he heard the gently commanding voice of Persephone, math teacher and psychic (apparently).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don't we take a little walk, I have some things I think would help resolve this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam wanted to say no, he wanted so desperately to just get away and let his emotions tire themselves out, but he couldn't, so he just nodded and followed her inside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Persephone had always been a strange teacher, though anyone could tell you that, she was never one to yell at her students but whenever they did something wrong Adam could see the shame they were overcome with after being leveled one look from her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They walked for a little bit longer until they reached a door he wasn't familiar with, Persephone pulled out a key and unlocked the door. The room was windowless and dark, the light from the open door allowed Adam to see the large circular table in the center of the room, there were a few candles with a...mirror? Adam looked over his shoulder but Persephone only smiled and urged him inside. When the door shut behind them Adam was enveloped by the darkness and for that split second a strange feeling enveloped him , a mixture of dread and peace all at once that left him disoriented; Persephone lit the candles in the center of the table and motioned to the other chair across from her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sit, have some tea.” She said and poured them both a cup from a travel mug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sat and carefully sipped the tea, it tasted a bit fruity but also a bit like moss.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anger is a very overwhelming emotion, the way it can just…” she paused and started off at something over his head, “blanket all our senses, make us do things we usually wouldn't.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this a class on anger management then?” He asked with a small smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She only laughed and shook her head, placing a deck of cards on the table, pushing the mirror aside to place the stack in front of him. “No, nothing like that, can you shuffle these for me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nodded and slowly grabbed the deck of cards, shuffling them with clumsy fingers, once he was happy with them, he set the deck down again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good,” she nodded, “now, split the deck in two and just choose a card.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam split the deck in two and stared at the two halves, weighing his choice. He went to draw one but froze with his hand hovering over it, something inside him was telling him to feel the cards, so he placed both hands flat on top of the stacks, one of them was warm to the touch and made his hand feel a bit tingly. He flipped the card over and was face to face with a boy behind a table, one hand pointed up to the sky with a candle lit at two ends, on the table there were four objects: a sword, a five pointed star, a staff, and a chalice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The magician,” she nodded, her eyes were the same black as always but Adam saw the satisfaction in them, “a powerful card for a powerful boy.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Absolutely Impossible</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The few days after his fight with Adam were tense, but with the discovery of his powers it eased everyone's tensions significantly, since they all either knew or could guess the reason for their argument. Their relationship had gotten a little bit better but Adam was a stubborn person, which did come in handy, especially when he did work and attended class, but it didn't help when they had fights. Gansey knew to leave it alone until he saw Adam was more calmed down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey had decided that two days was enough, not because he believed it but because he wanted his friend back. He lifted his hand to the door and knocked quickly before he could think too much about it. As he waited, Gansey entertained the idea of bolting but the door opened before it could solidify itself and he was face to face with a confused Adam.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gansey?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, I was hoping we could talk?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was silence on Adam’s end and Gansey could feel fear clawing up, he bit his lip and took a small breath. “Can I come in?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thankfully Adam nodded and stepped aside, closing and locking the door after him. Gansey watched him go to his desk chair and pressed himself against the door, keeping distance between them and keeping close to the door so he could make a quick escape if he needed to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“About the argument, the first one I mean but i guess the second one too...” he paused and looked down at the floor, “I wanted to say that I didn't mean for it to...no, that I’m…” he sighed irritably and leaned his head back, knocking it on the door with a little too much force and closing his eyes. “I’m sorry.” He finally managed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was silence again and his words hung in the air between them. Normally Gansey would be fine to let Adam mull over it but he had been on edge for far too long and the silence was suffocating and feeding into his thoughts, so he did what he does best, he kept talking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry that I didn't ask before coming in and talking your ear off when you were just trying to do work, when you were obviously trying to work and just making you frustrated, which is deserved, but also for using whatever magic I have on you, I genuinely didn't mean to I just got too in my head and couldn't take it anymore, I had to make it stop, and I didn't know what else to do, I just—” He gasped out. Only then had he realized that he was shaking and his vision was blurring at the edges, in his ears he could hear the all to familiar voices of his family and other unfamiliar ones - no doubt of people he had met before - whispering in his ears of the same things that constantly hung on the edge of his awareness most of the time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something touched his shoulder, a barely there touch, and Gansey instinctively flinched away from it and grabbed it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gansey, it’s me, it’s Adam.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was Adam.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just Adam.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His best friend Adam Parrish.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No one else but Adam Parrish.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He relaxed a little bit and slackened his grip again. Adam gently pulled his hand free and then they both waited for a second. Gansey was trying his best to come back to himself but the whispers had mutated to voices and some of them were screaming at him. He felt that he was getting further away from himself with every ragged breath he forced into his body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gansey, can I touch you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't answer right away, because he was asking himself the question, Gansey can he touch you?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.” He whispered, but really, had he even opened his mouth?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a breath between the words leaving his mouth and the ghost of a touch on his cheeks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't flinch away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The touch was a bit more firm and then there were thumbs gently stroking under his eyes, presumably wiping away tears. Then the hands withdrew and even the lack of contact left Gansey retreating towards that dark pit again. He nearly called out, was ready to beg for something to ground him, then arms wrapped around him. A hand was placed between his shoulders, and another on the back of his neck. Gansey leaned into the touch and and wrapped his arms around the body — Adam’s body, he corrected — and held him tightly, using the touch to ground him and help him come back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey buried his head in Adam’s chest and breathed in the scent that was totally Adam. It was peppermint and something earthy, the smell of the school and the smell of old books all rolled into one but with something else, something totally Adam to tie it all together. There was a deep sense of comfort in the touch and the smell and it ignited something inside him, a warm comfortable fire in the pit of his stomach, it made his heart flutter pleasantly and then the world was slotting back into place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stayed in the hug for a bit longer before taking a deep breath and pulling back slightly. He smiled up at Adam and stepped back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam nodded and smiled softly at him. “Better?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey nodded and smiled up at him, he could feel the mask, or the glamour now, slotting securely into place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you for apologizing.” he said and rubbed at the back of his neck. “I should also say sorry, for taking it too far...</span>
  <em>
    <span>twice.” </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey chuckled softly and nodded. “Thank you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>The library was unusually busy by the evening, unusual because after dinner no one really enjoyed doing their work and tended to keep to the common rooms or the dorms. Regardless of how unusual it was, the bustle of people was actually rather helpful since it meant that they could talk about magic and prophecies or whatever without attracting too much attention to themselves. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey had his journal laid flat on the table facing the others. It was open to a page that detailed his travels to Argentina where he met a woman who could apparently tell you your biggest regret just by touch alone. The running suspicion was that she was something similar to Cala but that couldn't be fully proven, it was interesting either way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I came across a lot of really similar things actually,” he said and flipped to another page, “here is a man with something more close to Cala who lived in Hong Kong.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So what? Do you think that magic, or powers or whatever are genetic?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey smiled and pointed at Adam. “Exactly.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was nice to not have this dark tension between them anymore, he missed the Adam he knew a lot in the past few days. Gansey and Adam had spent most of the morning talking and getting back to their usual state of friendship. It was always hard to go back to normal after a fight, it usually took them a lot longer to return to their usual dynamics but it was always nice in the end, it always managed to put out the fear in his chest when they could laugh and payfully shove at eachother again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gansey leaned back in his chair as the others threw ideas back and forth on his theory, mainly Adam and Blue, Noah often chimed in and Ronan spoke up when he wanted to make a joke though he oftentimes made rather good arguments for and against certain opinions on the matter. Gansey was just content to watch. He watched the way they all interacted and there was a warmth that filled his chest at all of them getting along so well. It really was rather tagering to think that they had only really been friends for a few months. The way that Adam and Ronan played into and fed off each other's energy, how Blue and Ronan were at eachothers throats like siblings, Noah and Adam having fervent discussions over books and complaining about teachers they didn't like. It felt strange to think that he had not known all these people his entire life, sure he had known Adam and Ronan longer but only by a couple years.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Gansey watched he kept drifting his gaze over to Blue, who was sat opposite him. He watched the way her eyes would light up when she would chime in with a thought or how the playful fire behind them flickered when someone challenged her; he watched the gentle slope of her shoulders, the way her smile curved and bled into her eyes; he watched with rapt fascination, the sharp cuts of her cheekbones and followed the contours of her face, the carefully sharp lines of her eyebrows, the slant of her eyes and the sharp peaks of her cupids bow. He watched her with the same admiration he would a marble statue, and took in her details, the little features that made up the whole, the same way he would examine a painting. He was overcome with the desire to touch and be much a part of the piece as to be an onlooker to the beauty of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey gazed at her for a moment longer before tearing his gaze away, that familiar feeling of warmth filling his chest. Gansey smiled softly and flicked his gaze to Adam.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He watched the way he was talking with Ronan. He watched how the sun hit him and illuminated him, how the light made his eyes shine a vibrant blue, his hair golden and his smile reflected the light back. He was practically glowing. Gansey moved his eyes down and watched his hands. He watched his long delicate fingers move around in a smooth and gentle line as he gestured to emphasize his point. Gansey traced his way up to his face, looking at his wrists and forearms exposed from his rolled up shirt sleeves, then up to his biceps (were they more defined? Or had he never noticed?); his eyes slid up and he took in the proud set to his shoulders, and finally he returned to Adam’s face, and perhaps having looked away from it was a mistake because he was nearly knocked off balance by the way he laughed and threw his head back slightly, the way that his cheeks tinted a little pink and how melodic his laugh sounded as it fluttered between them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey looked down at his hands and reached up to touch his cheeks gently, yep, he was blushing. He took a deep breath and gripped at his thigh tightly before looking back up at the others, glad that they hadn't noticed his little distraction.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The day continued as normal, classes came and went and homework was done efficiently as can be, but Gansey couldn't shake his little ogling session in the library. There was something about it that didn't settle well with him but why wouldn't it? He was just admiring his friends so that should be okay, he had known Adam more than long enough to be have doubts about </span>
  <em>
    <span>looking </span>
  </em>
  <span>at him; as for Blue, well she was attractive, simple as that, and he hated it but he found his eyes always gravitating towards her in some way, wanting to be near her in some form. With Blue the attraction to her was clear and simple, so what was bothering him was most certainly with how he was looking at Adam.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> The confusion of why staring at Adam ignited such a strange feeling in his chest permeated the entire day, and left him slightly more on edge than usual. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the very least he made it through the day, all he had to do was finish dinner and pray that some sleep would clear his head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dinner was fine, nothing bad had happened, and the feeling had mostly subsided. Good, he thought, it was probably nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah snickered softly from his right and Gansey glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow in silent questioning. Noah only smiled and motioned over to Ronan. Ronan was sat eating his food and overall being normal, so Gansey looked a little bit behind him and for a moment he didn't see much, until he caught a pair of intense gray eyes that went from him and then back to Ronan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey’s eyes widened a little bit as he connected some loose ends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan was still hooking up with Joseph Kavinsky. Well, that certainly tied up some strange events. He looked back to Noah and rolled his eyes with a small smile. They both went on with their dinner, not saying a word, for the sake of avoiding Ronan’s wrath.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dinner continued on being fine. Right up until the final ten minutes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>By now, most students had finished eating and the volume in the dining hall had increased quite dramatically. Once again Gansey found himself outside of the conversations at the table. He could easily join in, but watching was more entertaining sometimes. He flicked his eyes around the table once more, this time avoiding Adam and only rarely looking at Blue. Normally he would be able to risk staring a little bit, but that was in places where students were busy, but the dining hall was a rumor mill, and he didn't want to deal with that just now. Gansey settled for flicking his eyes around the dining hall and over the other tables.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He trailed the mess of plates across the table to a set of pale, pretty hands; he followed the slim fingers up, past slight and delicate wrists, skimming over forearms, over a slender chest, a pale neck with collar bones on show under a dangerously low neckline and finally up to a face. Noah Czerny. Gansey shifted a little bit and rested his chin on the palm of his hand. Noah was pretty, to say the least. He always had someone staring at him and Gansey really couldn't blame them, he was very nice to look at. He was all high cheekbones, platinum hair, and forest green eyes. He had this weird way of being that just pulled you in with a quirk of his lips and a few choice words. His face wasn’t the only thing that was pretty about him though, Noah was tall and elegant, but Gansey has seen him play rough with Ronan, and while he never wins he does put up a mean fight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah laughed softly and turned back to Gansey with a half smile on his face which turned into a slight smirk. Gansey blushed and when he winked, Gansey looked away and to the one person he couldn't possibly stare at, Ronan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gansey made it through dinner physically unscated but he was left reeling once again with that strange warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach. On their way out Ronan caught up to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You still want me to take a look at...whatever it was you said?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh god, he had asked Ronan to take a look at something, he was looking through his old journals and came across something he thought would be interesting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yea, I think it’s something you might be interested in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan nodded and they both silently went to Ganseys room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once inside Gansey handed over the journal to him and flipped the page open. He let Ronan read it and sat down on his bed, abdicating the desk chair to Ronan. Gansey busied himself with a book his mother had mailed to him— he didn't care much about the book but it kept him busy enough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he was waiting for Ronan to finish a memory of a thought popped into his head, </span>
  <em>
    <span>the one person he couldn't possibly stare at, Ronan. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Ronan was not someone you could stare at easy, he was, to most people, scary. Gansy shook his head, happy that he could finally get some rest from a day of confusing feelings. Less than a minute passed and he sighed, he was curious, he wanted to see if Ronan </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>someone who would be too scary, or just not appealing to look at, so he took a breath and looked up from his book.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He really shouldn't have looked up from his book. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ronan was sitting in his desk chair with a leg propped up on the other, the journal held in one hand and propped up on his knee. Gansey looked to his arm and felt his mouth go a little dry at how it flexed when he turned a page or readjusted his grip. Gansey quickly moved his gaze somewhere else and made the mistake of his chest. It was so unlike Adam and Noah’s, theirs were slimmer, no clear show of muscles underneath the Aglionby uniform, Ronan was not like that; maybe it was because he never cared to actually wear his uniform properly and tended to leave the top buttons of his shirt undone, or because the shirts were just slightly too small, but Ronan was no where close to Adam and Noah. Gansey resigned himself to looking and actually took time to look at him properly. He had broad shoulders, Gansey had seen him both without a shirt and in better fitting clothes enough to know that, and the Aglionby shirts did absolutely nothing to downplay his build. The uniform must have been uncomfortable to a degree, since he remembered that Ronan often went to get his shirts altered. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No wonder Kavinsky can’t leave him alone.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey raked his eyes over his neck — very faint marks peaking over his collar and lettering his neck — and moved up to his face. He was once again at awe at how stunning his friends were, and how differently they all managed that. Blue was sloping lines and round edges, Adam was high cheekbones and honey skin, Noah had his alluring eyes and that mouth; Ronan was all sharp edges, he had the same beauty of ice, a cold chill that if you looked past could be beautiful and rich and you could just as easily get lost in it. Gansey finally looked at his eyes and smiled softly. Ronan and Adam had similar eyes, both blue, but Adam’s were the blue of a newly dawning sky, Ronan’s were the blue you would expect to see in a frozen over lake, light and icy on the surface but as you got deeper, the colour deepened and blade into the black of the depths.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansye jumped a little when Ronan snapped the book hut and turned to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think what she had was similar to my whole thing but it wasn't right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey smiled and nodded, walking over and leaning over him a little so they could look at the book together. Gansey was glad for the distraction.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>That night Gansey spent way too long in his bed thinking over all the realizations he's had today. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was fine, he could find his friends attractive and it is okay, because he’s always found them aesthetically attractive at least. This was a new feeling, but he also saw Blue that way too, but with her he knew that it was because he liked her in a more than aesthetic way, he wanted to hold her hand and hold her close to him. Gansey smiled a little at the thought of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yea, just aesthetics.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Tiresome</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello!, this chapter is kinda short but I hope you don't mind much, it's a bit of filler and a bit of exposition btu I hope that doesnt matter all that much</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Blue did not like Aglionby.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was a thought that never seemed to leave her ever since the day she got the terms of her staying at the school; you can stay, but you can't have classes with the boys.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even now she scoffed, they said it was for her safety but it was also because they didn't want the parents to throw a fit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>School hadn't been too awful recently though, it had been so much nicer since she met Gansey, Adam, Noah and Ronan, they had made it so much more bearable, they brought magic to the school in more ways than the literal sense. Blue smiled as she thought back on her time with her boys.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She remembers the late nights they would spend in the library pouring over their work then over Gansey’s journal, how Gansey could go on for hours about it and they would let him for the most part, though most times Ronan would cut him off with a snarky comment, other times it was her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She really loved her boys so much.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue hummed softly to herself as she walked around her room, going through her closet to see if she could cut anything up or if there was anything that needed repairing. She sighed and straightened up, turned around and then suddenly the world tilted, went black, and she was on the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she came to, a slight bit of panic nestled itself in her stomach and she tried to stand up. Her legs were shaky but she could stand, good. There wasn't any pain anywhere, a quick once over showed no blood, so no injuries.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck.” Blue muttered and sat on her bed; her head was still spinning a little bit and she felt as if all her muscles were trembling. She took deep breaths and tried to gather up all the strength she had in her body and stood up. The world tilted dangerously but she kept walking, determined to make it so....whoever's room she made it to first.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue stumbled a little bit but after a couple meters her head wasn't spinning anymore and she felt much more steady on her feet. With this added stability she picked up her pace and before she knew it she was throwing her mothers door open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Blue, to what do I owe the surprise visit?” Maura asked from her desk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I fainted.” She said and flopped down onto the long couch, covering her eyes with her arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well that is certainly unexpected, let me make you some tea, do you want footy or mossy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue chuckled and shook her head. “I’m feeling moss today.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you will have the mossiest cup of tea this side of the country.” Her mother said grandly. Blue heard her walk to another room and a door shut.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She let her eyes slip closed hoping that some sleep might set whatever was going on with her head straight.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue wasn't very sure if she fell asleep or just faded in and out of consciousness but her head swam with flashes of things from before Aglionby. Brief moments from her old school, her friends and her playing outside or singing loudly, her family, even Orla, her cousin that was nearly as tall as a streetlamp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The couch cushion dipped low at her feet and she opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the room again after being closed for who knows how long, she propped herself up on her elbows and looked at her mother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, you're awake, wonderful, I thought your tea was going to go cold.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue looked over at the coffee table and saw a bright blue mus, her mug, on it. She carefully sat up, hoping to avoid whatever happened last time and carefully took the cup, taking a cautious sip from it. She was surprised that it didn't burn her, she must have dozed off if it had time to cool off enough to be drinkable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tastes like I flossed with a Virginia forest.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Perfect, that's the goal.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They didn't speak for a while, just continued to sip their tea in silence. Blue was still rolling around what happened to her in her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mom, what’s going on?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura was silent for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed a bit and she pressed her lips together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don't know, well I have an idea, I suppose.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue shifted on the couch and waited.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think, and I need you to keep that in mind, think, that it might be because of all your friends suddenly coming into their own, so to speak; that sort of thing is very draining for any person, let alone someone as young as you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am not young.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And such an old seventeen year old you are.” She laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I took the liberty of excusing you from classes, get some rest, your body is just tired from feeding the magic of so many hungry boys.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue’s face twisted a little at the phrasing but she nodded and melted back into the couch. “Can I stay here for a while?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stay as long as you need.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hello! To anyone who like, actually reads this regularly, I'm sorry for the change in update schedule and for the short chapter but the plot is kicking in soon, and there's some fluff on the way as well if that interests you, hope to see you soon!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Insomnia</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Aglionby Academy was the ideal place for any student to get a top notch education. It was staffed by the best teachers in their field, provided many opportunities for the students to involve themselves in activities, network, and carve out futures for themselves, all while being perfectly secluded from the outside world, giving the students a silent and removed place to better themselves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah personally thought that was absolute horse shit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When you're a normal student, sure, it was probably true to a degree, but when you could see ghosts? Well, the secluded and quiet bit went out the window.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Noah turned over in his bed and stared at the ceiling. There was a loud scream that echoed down the hall and he jumped slightly, body tensing briefly before he reminded himself that it was probably just a ghost reliving their death.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sighed and dragged himself from his bed, there was no way he was getting any sleep...again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The air was cold and made all the hairs on his body stand on end, he wasn't very sure what he expected , considering that it was well into December and winter holidays were closing in. He grabbed a thick sweater from his closet and tugged it over his head. It somewhat helped to warm him up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah walked to the window and leaned his arms on the sill, looking out at the snow covered field, and at the snow capped trees and mountains that could be barely seen in the distance, it looked like a scene from those cheesy postcards you’d see in kitschy touristy areas.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stood at the window for a while, roaming his eyes over the fields spotting the occasional body here and there, all of them very much not real, all of them very, very dead. He sighed and dropped his head, letting it thunk against the glass; this is what his life had come to now, huh? Involuntary insomnia, the ability to see ghosts, the ability to see their deaths. It was a cruel power to have, beign surrounded by death at every corner, the lines between reality and the afterlife blurring with every single scream and suicide, and laugh and shout. If he was only able to see the ghosts dying, it would be fine, but...how did Gansey put it? Ghosts are an echo, a reverberation doomed to repeat things at different times, that was the problem, he couldn’t just see them dying, he could see echoes of how they lived, how they played, and sometimes they look human enough, alive enough, to fool him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could go see Gansey, he was likely awake and would entertain him for a bit, or maybe he would get lucky and Ronan was awake from a nightmare. He couldn't though, because Gansey rarely slept as is, and Ronan was with Kavinsky, so he had to suffer through this on his own.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Noah stayed at that window for a moment longer before deciding, no, fuck this, he was gonna go see if he could scream at those ghosts whether they could hear him or not. He pushed off the window and threw open the door, marching down the hallway, following the sounds of the wailing and sobbing. He wove around the long and weirdly confusing hallways of Aglionby and finally came across a woman in one of the common rooms, she was older, and was sobbing by a window.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look here lady, I have HAD it with your crying, I get it, you're sad, you're dead, you died, </span>
  <em>
    <span>whatever!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>He said and threw his hands up, sighing loudly. “But I have not been able to sleep for four fucking nights so please </span>
  <em>
    <span>shut up!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>He panted a little after his outburst and just stared at the lady, she was no longer crying and was just staring at him in shock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah froze, she heard him. They were talking. He could talk to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Noah, Noah Czerny.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her face lit up at that. “Like Andrew?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah nodded slowly. “Yea, he's my grandfather, did...did you know him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh of course! He was a top student, really excelled in English.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah let out a small laugh and nodded. “Yea I guess so...hey I’m sorry about yelling, I just haven't been able to sleep well, I don't know if you can control the whole dying over and over thing but could you maybe not be so loud?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She tilted her head a little and pursed her lips. “I don't know what you're talking about, I...I’m…” she trailed off and dropped her stare to the letter in her hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry I have to go, good night Noah it was lovely meeting you.” She said and stood up. When she walked past Noah, his entire body went cold, it felt like being out in a blizzard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Likewise.” He said and watched her walk out of the door and then disappear in the blink of an eye.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stood there for a moment longer before walking out the door and back to his room. There were still the distant echoes of other ghosts wailing or screaming but he wasn't paying much attention to them, rather he was trying to come to terms with the new information.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could talk to the ghosts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Persephone had said that maybe he could.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he definitely could, he didn't just imagine that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Had he always been speaking with them?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Were the people he spoke to between classes even fucking alive?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Was anyone outside his friends alive? Logically, yes, but there was a small part of his brain that doubted how many people in his recent life were real.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He got into bed and stared up at the ceiling for a bit. He sighed and let his body relax, he had more than enough time to deal with the revelation tomorrow.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>hey guys, im going to be perfectly honest, I'm starting to not feel super happy posting up this story.<br/>Not that i'm going to stop writing it at all, but I might hold off posting for a month or so to let myself have a bit of time to actually get back into the desire to post. I noticed I was starting to become really resentful of posting and I would have to force myself to post.<br/>IDK if you want a specific reason why but, generally, its because I don't know if anyone actually enjoys the story or not, not saying it in any way to guilt people or whatever, but its the truth, i dont know if people like it, and it was starting to feel a bit pointless, so I'm, going to put it on a post hiatus until mid march, or maybe mid April since thats when my exams finish up so im not sure, but I will be back by April, s dont worry its not finished!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Food For Thought</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! im back!!! i know its been a while but school is finished so i should have some more time to work on this again, i missed ti a whole lot but i think the hiatus was well needed</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Christmas break at Aglionby started an entire three days earlier than it was supposed to. It was strange though seeing all the teachers stop giving work and letting their students do what they pleased because it was so close to the break. Blue wasn't complaining though because it meant that her classes also eased up and because of all the free time she got to spend it with the boys, mainly Adam and Gansey since they were the ones that tended to want quiet places to study; more often than not they all ended up in some of their rooms with Adam finishing up work, Gansey reading a book and Blue sewing something or reading as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>According to the clock on the wall, it was just after three in the afternoon. Blue was lounging across Ganseys bed with her head in Adam’s lap and her legs draped over Ganseys thighs. Today was the final day before winter break officially started so they got the luxury of no classes and no work for the holidays.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gansey, why aren't you guys going home?” She asked, settling her book on her chest to better look at him</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey paused the rhythmic tapping on her knees and looked up from his book. “I never go home for the holidays, my parents always throw parties and that's… not my preferred place to be.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you?” She asked and tilted her head back to Adam.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shrugged and kept reading his book. “I never really go home over the holidays, my parents don't host but they tend to attend pirates and force me to go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a simplistic answer and Blue could feel that it was oversimplified, an easy answer but she wasn't in any place to call him out on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How about Ronan and Noah? I haven't seen much of them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam smiled a little bit behind his book and Blue looked over at Gansey who was also smiling. “No, in all the time I’ve spent with Ronan at this school he has never once gone home for breaks.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think Noah stays to keep us company, sorry to disappoint but you're stuck with us for two weeks.” Adam snickered a little and laughed when Blue reached up and hit his arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue rolled her eyes and went to pick up her book but dropped her hand and stared at the ceiling for a bit. Two weeks in a school alone with the boys was going to be interesting to say the least, she had never spent that much time alone with any if them, though she doubted that would be much of an issue, what she was most excited for was the ability to relax and not have to juggle school work and magic work.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The tapping at her knees started again and Blue looked down at Gansey and watched him for a while, just looking at the rise and fall of his chest, the slope of his nose, the delicate way his cheeks were coloured the slightest bit peach and the minimal smattering of freckles on his cheeks and nose from summers spent outdoors, the natural smile of his lips; he looked every bit the golden boy he was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue dropped her head back and looked up at Adam, assessing him as well. He was both a lot like Gansey and absolutely nothing like him at all. Adam was a strange mix of gold and green; he was gold in the way he carried himself, like he was important (he wasn't wrong in that sense) and like he knew exactly what he needed to do at all times; but he was also green in a the way that he acted, and how he looked, he was built in the same sturdy but beautiful way that trees were, an elegance and masculinity that was rare to see in people outside of the poems her English teacher forced her to read and study, Adam was beautiful in the strangely idyllic way that poetic muses tended to be. Blue chuckled a little to herself, if only her English teacher Mr. Logan could hear her now, he would be very proud.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a while of laying together, lapsing in and out of reading and filling the moments in between with chatter Blue’s stomach gurgled uncomfortably. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When’s dinner?” she whined and dropped her book, reaching up and stretching out her back splaying herself back over Adam and Gansey, essentially getting in both their ways. Adam gave her a heatless glare and Gansey lightly pinched her knee — it was barely even a pinch, he mostly just pulled the skin a bit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In about ten minutes.” Adam said and also set his book down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose we should probably try to tack down Ronan and Noah then.” Gansey sighed and patted Blue’s legs, carefully moving them off his legs. With slow and slightly aching movements they all managed to stand up and stretch out their muscles, sore from being in the same position for much too long.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tracking down Ronan and Noah proved to be easier than she thought it was going to be. They spent a bit of time chatting over where to actually look for them, they decided to just rule out the easiest places first, so they made quick trips to their rooms. They found them in Noah’s room, Ronan passed out on the bed and Noah reading his book with his legs draped over Ronan’s stomach.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few shoves and rude words later, they were out the door and headed down to the dining hall. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their night ended up benign rather uneventfully, the school was nearly empty save for the couple dozen students that would be leaving tonight or tomorrow morning, and from what she heard from the boys, they would be one of the very few students who actually chose to stay at the school.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next morning Blue was awoken by a loud and demanding knocking at her door. In a blind stumble she got out of bed and made it to the door, and threw it open ready to lay into whoever deemed it a good idea to wake her up on a day she can sleep in, however she refrained from doing that when she saw who it actually was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ronan, to what do I owe the displeasure.” She yawned and stepped back into her room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Boy wonder would not shut his goddamn mouth.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you came to wake me up instead?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I have to suffer through his fucking professor voice then so do you.” He sneered and sat in her desk chair, looking perfectly content to sit and wait for her to get ready.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're such a child." She smiled and turned away from him, taking her sweet time to gather up her clothes for the day, make the bed, straighten out things in her shelves. Ronan to his credit was scarily patient, not budging from his spot once, not even making a snide comment, blue was impressed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll be back " she said and disappeared into the adjoining bathroom, only reappearing when she was dressed and overall looking like she hadn't just rolled out of bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Alright maggot, let's go." Ronan said and heaved himself out of the chair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Whatever you say mountain man." She beamed and snickered a bit at the glare he shot her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ronan wasn't joking when he said that Gansey was using his professor voice. They walked in on him pacing around the room gesturing and talking with his notebook in his hand, Blue wasn't super focused on what he was talking about she was trying not to laugh at Adam dead asleep on his bed and Noah looking like he wanted to fling himself out the nearest window. Gansey spotted them at the door and stopped, his face lighting up with a smile, perfectly polite and cordial but Blue could see the emotion behind it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good morning Blue!” He said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Blue! Thank goodness, you've come to save us from our resident professor.” Noah wailed and threw his arms around Blue, hugging her tightly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She laughed and hugged him back, shifting a bit to look at Gansey, who was a bit pink and rubbing the back of his neck, muttering an apology. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank Ronan, sorry we took so long.” She said and looked over at Adam who was just now starting to wake up again, stretching out on the bed like a cat. Blue glanced over to Ronan and smirked, raising an eyebrow as she tracked his stare to Adam, more specifically his exposed stomach from his stretch. Oh that was going to be fun to use.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even with it being the very first day of Winter break it was still jarring to see the dining hall both so empty and so silent save for the occasional burst of laughter from the two groups of students, there was a strange sense of eeriness to the school now that it was empty, like the usually cozy and crowded corridors were gaping wide and hollow. It was a weird feeling, she supposed, rather than have the walls close in, feel like they're moving away from each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue couldn't help but rub at her arms as a phantom chill passed over her. She walked around for a while longer, getting accustomed to the silence in the school, finding it a mix of comfort and eerines. She allowed herself to get lost in thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jane! There you are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue turned around and smiled at Gansey a little bit, stopping to let him catch up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He smiled. Blue noticed that he was a little red faced and out of breath. “We were going to head into town to do some Christmas shopping, I — uh, we were wondering if you wanted to come?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue bit the inside of her cheek to guard her smile and nodded. “Sure it sounds like fun, I was just thinking about what to get all of you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A lie but an innocent one if it meant that she got to see Gansey smile genuinely at her again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wonderful, spectacular even, the others are getting ready to leave if you wanna come with us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue nodded and turned to follow him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Getting ready took no longer than wrapping herself up in her warmest coat and meeting the others in the front hall. Once Gansey was sure everyone was accounted for they all left for the nearby town to do a bit of Christmas shopping.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The walk there was pleasant. The wind nipped at her cheeks and made her face go a little red, but it was nice and she didn't mind all that much.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shopping for the boys was harder than she would have thought, they were all so incredibly hard to shop for  since they could just buy anything they wanted to and it was frustrating to say the least.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After wandering the shops long enough to want to call off the whole gift thing, she was struck with an idea after seeing a couple in one of the Tailor shops.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The girl had been looking at some of the dresses, and it seemed she was really hung up on a green silk gown, she didn't end up buying it and left to go to another store, Blue saw the man she was with lag a bit behind and add it to the other dress he had in his hands. If she couldn't think of what to get the boys, she would just need to watch them and see what drew their eyes and just get that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They all met at the  path that led back to the school, almost everyone had some form of box or bag in their hand baring gifts. Blue had gotten a little bit unlucky with her gifts and some of them were fairly large so she got more than a few laughs from the others when they saw a small girl trying to balance a plethora of boxes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here, let me” Gansey said and took one of the larger boxes from her, his hands gently placing themselves over hers so she could slide the box out for him. That minor touch alone sent a delightful jolt through her body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even with the largest of the boxes gone she knew that it was going to be a struggle to make it back to the school, but they all troved on back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On the way back, Adam decided that he had enough of watching her try to keep her arms from giving out under the strain of the boxes and took two of the boxes, easily carrying them along as they walked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue was left feeling warm like she had just taken the worlds nicest bath and she really didn't know why, but she knew it wasn't an uncommon feeling; as of late she had been feeling like that around the boys, specifically Gansey and Adam and ti was a pleasant feeling that made her want to spend more time around them but it was frustratingly not obvious what the feeling itself actually meant and every time she would seek it out she felt like she needed to know why she was feeling it, not having answers was very frustrating.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She would figure it out eventually, even if it killed her.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Welcome to this mess that spiraled way out of control!<br/>I'm not even kidding. the outline is like 20K words, this is gonna eb a long boy!</p><p>Anywho feel free to scream at me in the comments or <a href="https://big-heccin-concern.tumblr.com/">on tumblr </a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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